


Charmed

by Bijuewled



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Casual Sex, Crime, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fairy Tail Solving Crime, In which they have bonded so much that their relationships are very advanced, Love, Lucy can take care of herself, Murder, Nalu - Freeform, Natsu is a protective bean, Not too much detail into it though, Romance, VERY casual until story progresses, We love a good Nalu love trope, gruvia and gajevy side love, some more than others
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 00:22:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 61,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16712902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bijuewled/pseuds/Bijuewled
Summary: As the days grew older, they grew closer; closer than they could've ever imagined. And as an innate power forces itself upon Lucy, she becomes a piece of destiny that would be beyond her control; For the one who bears the mark of gold is charmed with the power to destroy everything..and to begin everything anew.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello beautiful people! I have decided to start posting this fic of mine on here as well as fanfic.net! You may recognize me on Tumblr, and I'm happy to say I've added archive onto my list of postings for this story! This story is my child and I plan on writing it to the best of my ability! This is a story that I really enjoy writing and sharing with you all, and I hope you enjoy reading as much as I love writing!

If hope truly was a fading rainbow, she had run out of colors to spare.

How suddenly, had her world come crashing down upon her? How quickly had everything she had ever worked for, everything she had ever treasured and loved, been taken away from her shaking hands? Her own hands, now bloodied and bruised, that had once been so capable; hands that held power and light; they were now the hands pressed against the rocky ground beneath her, desperately trying to hold up her weight. Even though she had been on all fours, her entire body shook violently.

Her breathing had been shallow, her lungs unable to take commands of inhaling the necessary oxygen she needed to keep breathing. But sadly, just as her lungs were starting to fail her, so had her will to breathe entirely.

Her eyes began to burn, the tell-tale sign of the tears that began to fall to the ground in rhythm with the drops of blood that fell from her head, mixing together and adding to the puddle of blood that she had been leaning over, her head throbbing intensely underneath her mussed up, blood-stained blonde hair. The white ribbon that had once been tied neatly into her hair lay a few feet away on the ground, shredded and stained red. And her clothes were ruined; rips and tears dominated the once soft fabric of her baby pink cotton dress, the sleeves ripped and holes stretching to reveal her trembling thighs.

Her shaking fingers dug into the ground, straining against her body's desire to crumple to the ground and let everything fade to black. Her arms began to shake even more than they had before as she tried to place all of her weight on just one arm, only to be greeted by the shrewd and violent stab of pain that caused her to cry out loudly, then dimmed to a painful whimper. She turned her shaking head to her right to examine her right arm where that bastard had cut her; a deep and bleeding gash that stretched from her wrist all the way up to the crease of her elbow. Given the slightest movement or pressure, the pain would shoot up her arm and radiate throughout her senses, binding her into a world of pain.

With her muscles screaming at her to give up, she shifted her weight to her other arm, and reached out with her injured one, blood dripping down in large droplets as she stretched out to grab a golden key that lay astray on the ground in a large puddle of blood. As her fingers curled around the cold metal, she lifted the blood drenched key up towards her chest, the red liquid dripping down as she did so. She couldn't see who the key belonged to, and it didn't matter.

"O-Open…g-gate of th-the.."

Her vision instantly blurred, and she saw the stars that she had the power to control, only this time they fought to keep her from using any magic. She increased her grip on her golden key, and she felt herself become weaker.

No..please..I have to…

And with such sudden force, she felt the key in her shaking hand be slapped away brusquely, the clanging of metal ringing out as it must have hit a something hard in the distance.

Her eyes widened in extreme shock and disbelief.

She gasped as she felt a hand grab her throat and squeeze it tightly, now completely blocking off her desperately needed oxygen. She felt her body be lifted, and in a flash, she was being held by her neck, dangling up off of the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut as she attempted to block out the pain. Her arms hung uselessly at her sides. And yet, being in such a dire situation as this, all she could think about were her keys.

And as the pressure on her throat increased immensely, she struggled to reach for her Fleuve d'étoiles that had been attached faithfully to her left hip, only to remember that she had lost it in her fight earlier, her trusty weapon probably floating off in some body of abandoned water that that damed river she'd dropped it in led to. And of all times for it be missing..

Her vision finally began to go black, and as she fell into the darkness, a voice rang out in her ears, a familiar voice that had been drenched in fury and desperation. It rose in a violent crescendo as the hold she had on her consciousness completely snapped.

"LUCY!"


	2. Let The Games Begin!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our favorite fairies return to the Guild to encounter yelling, spilled coffee, and a game...

6 months earlier..

.

.

"Finally! We've made it!"

The Fairy Tail Guild building basked peacefully in the early sunlight, an incandescent glow setting the walls ablaze on fire with the dawn of a brightening new day. All of Magnolia seemed to glow with the rising sun, the subtle charm of sleep still hanging over the residents as they lay asleep in their warm and softened beds.

What Lucy wouldn't give to be one of those people at that moment.

Feet aching and fingers incredibly sore, Lucy sighed in relief when the guild came into view, the large building suddenly becoming the greatest vision she'd ever laid eyes upon. It meant that after she gave her mission report to Makarov, she'd lay her eyes upon the second most glorious sight she wanted to see…her bed.

"I don't think that I've ever met such a slave driving old woman in my whole life." Natsu groaned, trudging forward beside Lucy with an uncharacteristic scowl on his face.

Lucy sighed. "I know." she looked down at her red stained fingertips. "It'll take me weeks to get this berry juice off of my skin."

"But at least we got to take some extra berries home!" Happy chimed, floating in the air beside Lucy's head, clutching a basket full of glistening red berries between his blue paws.

They'd taken the job on an impulse, tempted by the 80,000 jewelreward that promised Lucy not only another month guaranteed in her apartment, but an outfit she'd been eyeing in the shops in town. And for Natsu and Happy..well..it just meant that they could have more Who Can Eat the Most in Just One Sitting experiments. After all, if they were to visit the right place, the two could get a lot for their money.

The job advertised needing help with harvesting Lola berries, whatever those may have been. The ad said that they had to travel a few towns over to Juniper, a town that smelled of nothing but flowers and sun, farmlands stretching on for miles. It was just a train ride away, though in Natsu time, it would take two days.

When they'd arrived, they were greeted by an old woman with braided hair that stretched all the way down to her hips, silver hair streaking the brown of her hair that once signaled her youth.

She'd played the part perfectly, welcoming the young and attractive mages of Fairy Tail and their flying blue cat. She'd poured them tea using a tea set that vaguely reminded Lucy of a mock-set she used as a child, the rims of the teacups a shimmering gold.

They were not allowed to harvest the berries until the moon was the brightest in the sky, and in Juniper time, that meant midnight. They were told that the berries would blossom with the moon, so that it was only natural that they wait until nighttime to do so.

What they hadn't been told, however, was the actual process of picking the berries.

They didn't know that the leaves around the berries would actually bite them if they attempted to pick them, their pointed teeth glistening under the moonlight. Lucy found out the hard way, putting up with a bruised knuckle for the rest of the night. It was as if those leaves were little monsters guarding treasure, though in that case, she guessed that they were. It took all of her patience not to rip out the stupid plants from their roots.

She had to stop Natsu from setting the damned plants on fire…four times.

And the icing on the cake? They were not to pluck or cut up the leaves in any sort of fashion, that would prevent a plentiful harvest for the following year, a harvest that the duo would surely not be taking part of.

Not to mention that they hadn't taken one single break since they started that night, otherwise, the berries would 'Fail to comply with their true taste and the whole fiasco would be a waste'. Lucy was ninety percent sure that the elderly woman was either working for the devil himself, or that she herself was the devil.

Or, she just liked to rhyme.

So, the only natural thing for a celestial mage to do in a time of trouble would be to call on her spirits, as much as she didn't want to subject them to such work, she didn't want to be out all night working her ass off with a ticking time bomb and a whining exceed.

Luckily, she had friends in the spirit world who loved her dearly; summoning two at a time, they went back to work.

She'd first summoned Gemini and Virgo, thinking that her spirits who held human forms would suffice her, Natsu, and Happy the most. The two spirits happily obliged, though Virgo seemed the most ecstatic, believing that the munching leaves of the plants wanted to punish her for trying to take their fruit.

Lucy swiftly covered Natsu's eyes when Gemini took on her appearance, wearing nothing but a fluffy pink towel wrapped around her body that left the concealed parts of her legs and chest up to the imagination.

"It's not like I haven't seen your-"

"Watch yourself, or I'll feed you to the plants!"

Then again, Loke and Aries hadn't been any better.

Lucy couldn't go five minutes without hearing Aries apologize to the plants over and over again.

"I'm sorry! I really am! My key holder needs your berries! I'm so so sorry!"

Loke had effectively cleared out an entire row of berries before the terrible pick-up lines began.

"This moonlight really brings out your eyes."

Lucy had to restrain herself from summoning Cancer and Taurus, those two could take out those devilish plants in a flash.

But in the end, the 80,000 jewel won.

And so did the berries.

By the end of the night, Lucy was half lying, half sitting on the ground breathing heavily. She didn't care that her new shorts were stained brown with dirt and berry juice that dyed the white fabric pink. Her ponytail had become loose on her head, stray pieces of hair sticking to her sweaty forehead. She would quickly shut her eyes each time she tried to open them, otherwise spots of vibrant colors would blind her pupils, making her lightheaded and dizzy from her lack of magical energy. For lack of better words, she felt as though she'd been hit by a boulder. She didn't understand why she had been so tired and weakened. After all, she'd been through much much worse than picking stupid berries. Then again, she had kept her spirits around for two hours each, which must have sucked up a ton of energy.

Yet, by the miracle of Mavis, the three of them managed to get back home in one—rather three—pieces safely, their share of Lola berries in tow.

"These better be the best fucking berries I've ever tasted." Lucy muttered under her breath, glaring at the shining skin of the berries in the basket. She didn't work all that night non-stop just to taste vomit-inducing berries. Her cut up and bruised knuckles would be the first to riot..right after her tongue.

"Well, no use in waitin' around to find out."

Lucy turned towards her pink-haired partner, and her eyes immediately widened when she saw him pluck a red Lola berry from the basket, examine it for a good—give or take—five seconds, and begin raise his fingers towards his mouth-

"Natsu!" Lucy screeched, kicking off of the ground and launching her body towards Natsu, grabbing his wrist with her right hand just as the berry was about to enter his mouth.

His eyes darted to meet with hers, the sunlight highlighting the green in his irises and setting his entire face alight with sun.

"What are you thinking?! You-You can't eat that!"

Natsu blinked at the huffing blonde before him, watching her face turn red from exasperation, almost as red as the berry in-between his fingers.

When his eyes narrowed, Lucy could feel his breath escape past his lips and settle onto her hand, sending warmed chills up her arm.

"Why not?" he asked her.

"'Why not?'?" Lucy repeated, not moving her hand from his wrist. "They haven't been cleaned yet! They could have germs or bugs or..or..something else!"

Lucy watched as Natsu's brow shot up, taking on a condescending visage that shot irritation all the way down to Lucy's core.

"Luce, everyone knows that you can't use soap on fruit."

Lucy blinked slowly, speechless in her entirety.

This boy was hopeless.

She stuck her left hand out. "Give it to me."

"Who are you, my mother?"

"Natsu, hand it over!"

She glared him down, and he had the audacity to glare right back at her, a mother and her child at war with one another. Grips tightened and teeth gritted, Lucy wasn't about to drop her stance and let her partner do something so stupid as to eat a strange piece of fruit that they knew absolutely nothing about. Had the berries been out in the sun for too long? Would they spoil in the sunlight? All of those seemed highly unlikely, but when plants physically wanted to bite a person's fingers off, one had to consider these things.

Sometimes, Lucy truly thought that she was his mother.

And surely, he proved her wrong.

Lucy watched with horror as Natsu's taut lips slowly spread into a mischievous grin, setting his cheeks ablaze with an excited flush that made Lucy's heart pound. His green eyes shimmered with play, a dangerous shimmer that once had Lucy at the Dragon Slayer's mercy, being held captive under his body and becoming the victim of a tickling attack.

"If you insist."

Lucy squealed as she suddenly saw red, bending backwards and pushing her flexibility as she felt the skin of the berry touch her lips, two tanned fingers trying to force the berry into her mouth. Lucy spun on her heels and twisted her hips so that her upper body dodged all of Natsu's attempts to grab her torso and capture her so that he could make her eat the fruit.

"C'mere Luce!" Natsu teased, lunging at her once again, only to miss by a few feet as she hastily jumped out of the way. "Don't you wanna taste the fruit of your labor?"

"SO not funny!" Lucy exclaimed, though turning her head away from Natsu's sight to smile, not wanting to give him the satisfaction or indication that he may have distracted her with what he called 'humor'. So not worth the loss.

"Give it up Luce!"

"Not a chance!"

The two mages continued their antics, all that were being observed by a blue cat who slowly lowered a basket of berries to the ground, his eyes watching them intently.

Sure, he liked to joke around sometimes. Heck, it was practically his job to provide his commentary on any given situation that just screamed awkward. He'd seen it all, and after all, the Fairy Tail guild was only so big and so intimate.

These two weren't the only ones. He'd bet ten thousand jewel worth of fish on it.

Happy chuckled. "You loooove each other!"

"We do not!" Natsu and Lucy chorused, a familiar melody that was music to Happy's ears.

Sure they weren't.

"You can't escape me, Lucy!" Natsu grinned evilly. "Now you're gonna eat two!"

Lucy watched in horror as Natsu lunged at her once more, this time balancing two of those Mavis-forsaken Lola berries in-between his fingers, itching to get his way and force feed her, though that hadn't been the first time he'd chased her with food. Last time, it had been a piece of pizza that had fallen on the floor, and while she had been starving at the time, there was no way that she would have eaten food off of the guild floors. It was her mistake that she said such a thing out loud, next to Natsu..

Just as she thought she had escaped him, she quickly realized that he had dashed behind her. Turning on her heels to try to evade him once more, she gasped as she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist, pulling her into his chest and lifting her off of the ground with a sudden swoop.

"Gahh! Natsu! Put me down!" Lucy exclaimed, trying to squeeze out of Natsu's vice hold, kicking her legs and while in the process, accidentally kicking off one of her flip-flops.

"Not until you surrender!" Natsu teased, increasing his grip on her, though immediately bringing his fingers down to her exposed stomach, tickling her.

Lucy's laughter was automatic, her cries echoing out in the streets while tears streamed down her cheeks. Desperately trying to get out of his hold, she wiggled even more, whipping Natsu's face with her ponytail, managing to almost turn around completely-

"It's too early for this shit."

The tickling ceased immediately, allowing the neurons of Lucy's skin to cease their endless firing of the uncomfortable sensation of getting tickled. Sighing out of relief, Lucy slowly opened her tear streaked eyes as Natsu's grip on her loosened, her feet finally making it back onto the ground, the dirt of the road sticking to the bottom of Lucy's right bare foot.

Lucy felt vibrations arise from Natsu's chest as he spoke, scoffing slightly.

"You're not usually awake until after noon, metal mouth." Natsu said, a teasing nature present in his voice.

Lucy turned her head towards said metal mouth, watching as he stood calmly in his spot several feet away from the two of them.

His eyes were slightly bloodshot, though with his naturally ruby red irises, one couldn't truly have known unless they looked closely. And while Lucy saw Gajeel almost everyday, she spotted the difference almost immediately, just like the mussed up hair on the back of his head that was usually smoother than what she currently saw.

"D'ya think I wanna be awake at this hour? Jeez, it should be illegal to be up before noon." Gajeel's gruff voice said, half clear and half drenched with sleep. "Gramps told us last night that we got a meeting or something like that."

Lucy frowned. "A meeting? About what?"

"Hell if I know." Gajeel sighed. "So quit yer lovey dovey pda or whatever ya call it. Yer gonna wake up the whole town with Bunny Girl's screaming."

"We are not lovey dovey!" they both exclaimed, only realizing a few seconds later that Natsu's hands were still attached to Lucy's hips, and Lucy had done nothing to correct the situation. With a startled drop in her stomach, she'd also realized that her head had been resting against Natsu's chest, his rhythmic heartbeat becoming lulling white noise to her ears.

It'd felt so natural..

Lucy looked down at the ground, an embarrassed flush spreading across her face as she reached for her lone flip-flop. She hadn't actually screamed…had she?

Gajeel shook his head, grunting. "Didn't think you were into doin' that kind of stuff in public, Salamander."

"What in the hell's that supposed to mean?!" Natsu exclaimed, gently taking his hands off of Lucy's waist, letting his fingers linger on her stomach ever so slightly before finally leaving her skin, leaving warmed trills across her skin.

"It means exactly what ya think it means!" Gajeel exclaimed, turning and walking away from a frazzled Natsu who decided to follow him closely, Lucy following them. She sighed as the two of them continued their useless bantering, though usually, Lucy was used to hearing Gray's voice in place of Gajeel's. Either way, Gajeel was right. It was way too early in the morning to argue, not that that would stop Natsu.

Not that anything would stop Natsu.

The bantering continued all the way to the front doors of the guild, and Lucy watched with tired eyes as the two dragon slayers pushed the double doors open and entered the main hall of the guild.

"You're the ones about to suck each other's faces in public!"

"We're not sucking anything!"

"Maybe not mentally!"

"What in the hell's that supposed to mean?!"

"You know exactly what that means!"

As Lucy entered the guild, she sighed in defeat, allowing the boys to continue to walk off into the heart of the main hall and argue to their hearts' desires. And why stop them? She knew that Erza would appear at any given second, ready to break them up then to return to whatever dessert she had decided to eat for breakfast that morning. Last time, it had been strawberry shortcake.

Regardless of the earlier hour, the guild was just as bright as usual, the hall swimming with laughter and cheers, the scents of booze and maple syrup drenching every inch of the air as breakfast was being prepared. If Lucy inhaled deep enough, she could smell the batter of the yet-to-be-cooked pancakes that never failed to make her mouth water, their buttery scent enough to tempt even those in the deepest of slumbers. That's right, Fairy Tail wasn't just famous for their attractive members and winning the Grand Magic Games.

"Chaaarleee!" Happy exclaimed, flying off with the basket of berries. "Look what I've brought you!"

And suddenly, Lucy was alone.

"Lu-chan!"

Upon hearing her name, Lucy turned her head to her right, her blonde ponytail swishing across her back. Her tired eyes scanned the rows of tables until they landed on her caller, who was waving at her enthusiastically.

Lucy smiled as she waved back, making her way towards the petite blue-haired mage. "Hey, Levy-chan!"

Closing a book that she had been reading prior to Lucy's arrival, Levy directed her attention towards Lucy. As excited as she was to see Lucy, Lucy saw the purple bags under Levy's eyes, noting that the solid script mage was just as enthusiastic about waking up early as everyone else.

"Did you and Natsu get back just now?" she asked Lucy, her eyes twinkling with curiosity.

Sighing, Lucy plopped down next to Levy, resting her elbows on the wooden table and cupping her cheeks with her hands. "Yupp, and I'm completely beat."

"Your clothes are a mess!" Levy exclaimed, pinching the sleeve of Lucy's berry stained aqua shirt, cringing when she realized that her shirt would probably never be the same.

"Nice observation." Lucy replied sarcastically, finally allowing fatigue to consume her body, her upper body collapsing onto the wooden table with a satisfied thud. "I swear, I haven't been this tired since I stayed up all night working on my novel, Levy-chan."

She heard Levy sigh in amusement as she patted her shoulder. "Well, at least you got a pretty hefty pay. Even with you two splitting the jewel, you'll have enough for your rent, and maybe something else!"

Absorbing her friend's words, Lucy's mind began to race in glee with all the possibilities that her new found fortune could bring her. Maybe she'd get a mani-pedi, or maybe she'd spend the entire day at the new spa that opened up a few towns over. Sighing to herself, she could just smell the bath salts and creamy lotions that she would be able to use on her tired and berry stained skin. It seemed like heaven on earthland.

And she was brusquely knocked out of her temporary heaven by a pair of arguing voices.

"You're one to talk!"

"Oh, so now I'm the perpetrator?!"

"You said it, not me!"

"Why you little-"

Groaning loudly, Lucy buried her face deeper into the table, bringing her arms up to her ears. "Levy-chan! Can you please contain your boyfriend?"

"Wha?!" Levy squeaked, and though Lucy couldn't see her, she knew that Levy's face had gone red. "He's not-we're not-I'm not-"

Lucy sighed in amusement. "I'm just kidding."

Actually, she was the farthest thing from kidding.

Lucy wasn't stupid, she'd done her research through careful observation. She saw the way that Levy looked at Gajeel, and she'd be ignorant to say that Gajeel wasn't looking back at her in the same fashion. The signs were small, but they were there. Whether it be a playful poke on the shoulder, a pat on the head, or fingers slightly brushing together as they both reached for a piece of fruit, it was undeniable. Lucy wasn't blind, and she was positive that Levy and Gajeel weren't either.

"You're the one who should talk, Lu-chan."

Stopping her analysis of Gajeel and Levy's relationship, Lucy's eyes narrowed as she turned her head towards Levy, lifting her elbow off of the table to shoot a glare at the blue haired mage.

"Don't know what you're talking about." Lucy huffed.

"Control your boyfriend, Lu-chan."

"Nope, still don't understand."

The girls eyed each other, never breaking their contact or wavering under their opponent's stare. That was, until the tell-tale sounds of crashing and yelling rose to a violent crescendo. Lucy's eyes immediately darted to the sources of the havoc.

"Wanna fight?!"

"Be sure to call Wendy and have her make you a new face!"

"I'll wipe that smirk right off yer face ya bastard!"

"Come and try it!"

Blinking in annoyance, Lucy turned her attention back towards Levy, who had also been watching the mini brawl. Their eyes connected once more, and only a few seconds passed before the girls bursted out into laughter.

Lucy clutched her stomach, feeling her abs getting a mini workout from her laughter, abs that were also extremely sore from bending over the entire night.

"You seriously find those two funny?"

Lucy and Levy's laughter died down, and Lucy turned to greet the tired yet sarcastic voice that graced them.

Hair disheveled and untidy, he ran his fingers through his raven locks, sighing as he sat down next to Lucy. To Lucy's surprise, he'd managed to come to the guild fully clothed, well, almost. He wore a white trenchcoat-like jacket with navy blue trimming, unbuttoned to expose his chiseled chest. He also had on black jeans and boots, as per usual.

Lucy sighed. "Morning, Gray. It looks like Gajeel took over your job for you."

Gray shot a glance over at the quarreling dragon slayers, and his eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Good. He can have it." he said, setting an iced coffee down on the table.

Lucy eyed the ice cubes of his drink, watching them spin and dance around in the liquid like ballet dancers. It was almost lulling.

"Gray-samaa.."

Lucy didn't have to guess who's tired voice that was.

Lucy's eyes caught sight of a blue head bobbing over to their table, stopping right next to Gray.

Lucy watched as their visitor slammed her head into Gray's shoulder, burying her face into his jacket, wrapping her arms around his left one.

"Juvia is tired.." the water mage complained softly.

Lucy sighed. "You and me both, Juvia."

Lucy watched with tired eyes as Gray glanced down at the water mage clinging to his arm. Now, she could've pinned her vision on blurred eyes and a sleepless night, but there was no denying it. There was no denying the smirk that Gray had on his lips as he looked down at Juvia.

Reaching towards his drink with his right arm, he brought the coffee up to his lips. "You'll be able to sleep after Master tells us what he wants to tell us."

Juvia sighed. "Gray-sama, sleep with Juvia."

Iced coffee spewed out from Gray's lips, his eyes wide.

Lucy and Levy squeaked as they jumped back from the spontaneous coffee shower, Levy grabbing her book and shielding it from the liquid. On normal circumstances, Lucy would've ran like hell, shielding her clothing and hair from any stray liquid coming her way. But with her appearance, what was the point?

"Gray-sama! Juvia will clean you! Juvia will-no don't take off your clothes, Gray-sama!"

"Would you like some?"

The whole table blinked as they turned towards the soft voice that rang out cheerfully.

Her blue hair was twisted back into two neat braids, trailing down her shoulders all the way to her hips. Her baby pink dress complimented her skin nicely, as it brought out the natural flush in her cheeks.

In her right hand, she held out a bunch of napkins.

"Oh, thanks a lot, Wendy." Gray said, taking the sanitary paper from the little dragon slayer, who smiled back at him cheerfully.

"She's cute isn't she? Wendy's such a cutie!"

Wendy's face immediately contorted into a pained expression as a pair of arms wrapped around her torso, squeezing tightly, a glass of orange liquid clenched in one hand. The smell of alcohol wafted throughout the air, mixed with winter berries.

"Cana-san, g-good morning." Wendy said awkwardly in-between getting squeezed, her cheeks puffing out with discomfort.

"Drinking already, Cana?" Lucy asked wryly.

"Is that even a question?" Gray said, dabbing his exposed chest with a napkin, trying not to notice that Juvia was watching him do so.

Letting Wendy out of her death grip, Cana patted her head.

"I'll have you all know that all I've had to drink on this wonderful, early morning were mimosas. And that is a completely acceptable drink for a lady to have this early in the morning!" she said cheerfully, her face flushed with alcohol. She turned to Lucy, and frowned. "Lucy, you're a mess."

Feeling a headache come on, Lucy sighed. "Thank you, Cana."

"-And the next time you try this you'll end up flat on the ground, you understand?" Erza's voice suddenly boomed behind Wendy, who instantly moved to the side.

A shaken and wide-eyed pair of dragon slayers were forced down onto the benches, being held by the scruffs of their necks. Upon contact with the wood, Natsu immediately face-planted into the table, while Gajeel just stared blankly ahead.

"Yes, m'am." the two mumbled incoherently.

Erza sighed, then, looking up to greet everyone at the tables, her eyes widened when they landed on Lucy.

"Lucy, your clothes!"

Groaning into her hands, Lucy gave up. "So I've been told."

Sitting down next to Lucy, Wendy softly took Lucy's hair into her hands, untangling the ponytail from small and various knots that had formed over the past few hours. "At least your hair isn't drenched in berry juice!" the small dragon slayer said, smiling.

"Or coffee." Levy said wryly, looking pointedly at Gray.

"Why didn't you go back to your apartment and clean up?" Erza asked, sitting down in-between Natsu and Gajeel, flinging her red hair over her shoulder.

"Natsu, Happy, and I just got back. I would've, but Gajeel told us that Master wanted us all here. Speaking of, do any of you know what he wants to talk about?"

Everyone at the table shook their heads, frowning at each other, shooting off suggestions.

"Beats me."

"Maybe we got into trouble with the council again?"

"Doubt it."

"Is there a new member?"

"Did Natsu blow something up again?"

"Hey!"

Lucy and the others continued to discuss the possibilities of why Makarov had decided to pull most of them from the depths of sleep to sit around at the guild waiting for some announcement that apparently would involve all of them. What that was, however, continued to puzzle Lucy.

"Listen up, brats!"

The telltale voice of Makarov suddenly boomed out throughout the guild, a noise shattering call that immediately shut everybody up. Either that, or everybody was already asleep from their early rise.

Dropping all distraction, Lucy looked up at the balcony that lead to the second floor of the guild with excited eyes, a smile spreading onto her lips as their master appeared.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw her friends and guildmates follow suit.

Well, almost all of them.

Against her will, Lucy's eyes caught Natsu's, as some strange pull brought her eyes away from her master and briefly towards her so called 'Partner in Crime', meeting his eyes immediately.

He was doing it again..giving her that strange look that sent butterflies on a rampage in her stomach, causing her to self consciously place her hand on her abdomen. She felt her cheeks light up like pink lanterns, setting her smooth skinned face ablaze with a blush that Lucy couldn't categorize. Nervousness? Excitement? Fear? She didn't know. The only question was, why?

"First off, I'd like to thank all of you for being here so early in the morning." Makarov said cheerfully, an extreme contrast to his one booming voice. "Are you all alive out there?"

A couple of soft grunts echoed throughout the guild hall, some louder than others.

"Hurry up old man, before ya put everyone to bed." Gajeel grunted, putting his head down on the table, only for him to shoot back up from it immediately as Levy smacked his arm with her book. "Oi, Shrimp! What are ya-"

"Shhhhh!" Levy hissed. "Pay attention!"

"I have an exciting announcement to make!" Makarov stated, glancing at all of his children through knowing eyes, eyes that could silence a single stampede with just one look, and one look only.

Lucy found herself leaning forward in her seat, the anticipation grilling her entire body. She watched Makarov with careful eyes, not even blinking out of fear that she'd miss something important, whatever that may be. And she wasn't the only one.

After a few seconds of silence, Makarov gave them an excited smile.

"I am pleased to announce that the town of Magnolia will be empty two days from now, due to the ever so popular Farmer's Festival in Juniper!"

Lucy's jaw dropped, her eyes widening at the mention of the town that she'd spent one sleepless night in with her partner, picking those damn berries. There was a festival in Juniper? Of all places for a festival to be, it just had to be Juniper. Then again, where else would a farmer's festival be held? Certainly not in Magnolia.

And to think that the festival was popular enough to drain Magnolia of its residents..was it really worth all the praise the master had given it? And even so, why would her guild be hyped about a farmer's festival?

As if the two of them had the same train of thought, Lucy turned to glance at her partner once again, though this time, a case of the butterflies hadn't invaded her stomach.

Natsu's eyes were narrowed in annoyance, his mouth set in a straight line that when opened, would surely breathe fire.

"Damn old woman…" he muttered under his breath, making Lucy giggle softly.

Though, her laughter ceased when Natsu's eyes suddenly widened.

Lucy squeaked when he suddenly leapt up from the table, his eyes shining with something close to excited anticipation, but then again, this was Natsu. But what was he so excited about?

"Wait! Then that means.." Natsu's voice rose to an excited crescendo, sending Lucy spiraling down further into a world of confusion.

And that world became bigger as Gray and Erza rose from their seats, the same excited shimmer glistening in their eyes, as if they were children on Christmas morning standing in front of a plethora of shiny wrapped gifts.

"Are you serious?!" Gray exclaimed excitedly, his lips curling upwards into an excited smile that only begged the question, 'why?'.

Sensing a strange disturbance in her beloved, Juvia looked up at Gray from her seat, blinking sleepily like a small child. "Gray-sama?"

"Master, is it true?!" Erza exclaimed, abandoning her piece of early morning cake to join the boys in their stance.

Lucy's mind went fuzzy. Erza Scarlet? abandoning cake?

Then, guild slowly began to spark to life.

Suddenly, everyone was on their feet, pumping their fists up in the air and crying out with joy. Laughter rang out through the halls like high pitched chimes, variations of cheers erupting throughout the hall.

"Hell yeah!"

"It's about time!"

"Somebody pour me a drink!"

And finally, with an excited proclamation, Makarov threw his arms out. "If you want to participate, sign your name on the sheets hanging on the request boards! Ladies and Gentlemen, let the games begin!"

An uproar of excited shouts deafened Lucy's ears as a stampede of people rushed over to the request boards, each person pining to get to sign their name on the sheet of paper, as if it were detrimental to make their mark.

"Move the hell over!" Natsu exclaimed, pushing his way through the crowd up ahead. "This year, the victory is gonna go to us!"

"Like hell it will!" Cana's voice suddenly boomed, dropping her mimosa onto the wooden table, which surprisingly hadn't spilled a single orange drop onto the wood. Flinging her hair over her shoulder, she turned around swiftly and grabbed a surprised Levy's arm, who squeaked as she was pulled from her seat. "Come on, flower child!"

"Whaa..ok!" Levy stammered with surprise, allowing Cana to drag the so called 'flower child' from her seat and into the maddening and growing crowd of Fairy Tail members, all of them trembling with excitement.

Lucy watched the whole event with widened eyes, sitting frozen in her seat.

Just what on earthland was happening?

"So..uhh.."

Suddenly realizing that she wasn't alone, Lucy slowly turned her head away from the crowd, and to her surprise and relief, she found the same confused eyes staring right back at her.

Juvia, Gajeel, Wendy, and herself, were without a doubt, hopelessly lost.

"Does anybody know what the hell's goin' on?" Gajeel grumbled awkwardly, his ruby eyes darting towards the crowd of guild members, then back towards Lucy and the others.

"Not a clue." Lucy sighed, staring into the wood of the table, fatigue finally taking over her body.

"Gray-sama seemed so..excited." Juvia said softly, bringing her hands up to her chest and grasping them tightly together, hearts practically swimming in her ocean blue eyes. "Gray-sama is so handsome when he's excited!"

"Natsu-san looked pretty excited too..well..for him that is." Wendy said, her brown eyes scanning the crowd of their nakama. "But I wonder what everybody is getting so excited about?"

Lucy nodded at her dragon slayer friend, patting her head affectionately. "Me too."

Being newcomers to the guild, the four of them were used to missing out on old guild traditions, it was just a fact of their lives that it hadn't been their time to be in Fairy Tail. They'd learned about the guild's traditions daily, and while they were uncertain at first, they'd grown accustomed to the system fast. And in the words of Juvia, "'If Gray-sama is a part of it, then Juvia can be too!'". Not the greatest inspiration that Lucy could go off of, but it was a start.

"Hey Lucy, Juvia, Wendy!"

The three girls' attentions were immediately directed towards a new voice, a voice that seemingly had broken out of the madness of the excited crowd and had actually managed to approach them.

Attention directly given towards the speaker, Lucy was thankful to hear someone speak at a lower volume.

They all watched as she adjusted the maroon bow pinned neatly at the top of her ponytail; hair the color of lilacs spilled down her back in a wavy waterfall, stopping right in the middle of her defined shoulder blades. Her dark chocolate eyes swept over them knowingly behind her glasses.

"Laki-san!" Wendy greeted.

"Aren't the three of you gonna sign up?" Laki asked her fellow mages. "With the three of you on our team, we'll totally win this year!"

Lucy frowned. "Team?"

"Oi, Gajeel!" Natsu's voice suddenly boomed out. "Get your ass over here and sign up! We're not gonna let ya sit this one out!"

Gajeel grunted in confusion, his studded eyebrow rising. "Sign up for what?"

When there was no response, Gajeel sighed heavily, rising from his seat to join the madness of the guild. "This better be good, you hear me?"

"Laki," Lucy began, "What's everyone so excited about?"

Laki blinked at the girls slowly before they lit up with realization. "Oh, that's right! You guys must be so incredibly confused! Then again, Master didn't exactly specify what was going on.

"You see, the Farmer's Festival in Juniper is a big hit among the non-magic residents of Magnolia, so much so, that the town is emptied by noon. Which means, that we have Magnolia all to ourselves!"

Lucy nodded in understanding. So it wasn't the festival itself that everyone was so happy about, but the fact that the town would be empty, available for a certain guild to enjoy. But how? What did the master have planned that everyone else apparently knew about, except for her?

"So," Laki continued, nodding her head towards the crowd. "Each year, Master throws a special event, well, it's more of a game to be honest. That way, with the town being empty, we can have some fun!"

"You mean, so that if Natsu-san happens to burn down a building, there won't be anybody in it who could possibly get injured?" Wendy inquired, making Lucy roll her eyes and giggle softly.

"Th-That's exactly right." Laki laughed awkwardly.

"So, what is this game?" Juvia asked, her eyes brimming with curiosity.

"Simple." Laki answered. "It's a classic battle of the sexes. Boys versus girls."

Lucy felt her heart begin to pound in excitement, a challenge rising up in her mind. Boys versus girls? Finally, the girls had a chance to bond over the hypothetical annihilation of the boys of the guild. And what better way to bond than to watch the boys bow down to their superiority?

More specifically, watching Natsu bow down.

Oh, how she yearned to get back at him for chasing her with those berries and more. How she longed to see the look on his face when they won..

This would be brilliant!

"But that means that Gray-sama will be on a different team than Juvia!" the water mage exclaimed, her eyes wide with sorrow. "Juvia has to be against Gray-sama?!"

"That sounds like fun!" Wendy exclaimed, her big brown eyes shimmering with excitement.

"And that's not even the best part!" Laki exclaimed. "The winners get a free trip to the famous resort in Bellea!"

Lucy's eyes widened, gasping audibly. "Are you serious?!"

Every girl and her mother knew about the ever so popular resort in Bellea. With its pristine bath water and popular shopping center, it was a woman's paradise. Lucy had dreamed of going one day, but she never had enough jewel to spare apart from her rent. But now..things were seemingly different.

The girls looked at each other, each of them containing excited sparks behind their eyes.

Wendy's hands were folded tightly in her lap, an excited flush spreading upon her cheeks. Even Juvia, who hadn't liked the idea of being placed on a separate team from her beloved, held a distinct sparkle that couldn't be denied.

Lucy glanced to her left, watching as a small group of boys began to huddle together, talking in hushed whispers like a group of gossipping girls.

Natsu, Gray, Elfman, Romeo, and even Gajeel were definitely starting their planning early on, stealing glances at the girls every so often, mischievous smiles plastered onto their faces.

And when Natsu's eyes suddenly caught Lucy's in an eye-lock, he began to grin at her condescendingly, which sent annoying chills down Lucy's spine.

So, doing the only thing that she could think of, Lucy stood up from the table. Her chocolate eyes remained locked with Natsu's, a never-ending battle of dominance.

Natsu Dragneel, more inferior than Lucy Heartfilia? She couldn't think of anything sweeter.

"Hey Laki, got a pen?"


	3. Breathable Chemistry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy tries to write a love story while trying to figure out her own, and pheromones are a bitch.

Night stretched across the Magnolian sky before Lucy had even realized, blanketing the azure space with the distinct sparkle of the salt and pepper stars that glistened against its obsidian-colored canvas. By that time, all of the stars had been wished upon by all the children who looked to the sky to make their dreams come true, all had long gone to bed in an attempt to reset their bodies for the new day.

Everyone, except Lucy that is.

The guild had been a melting pot of excitement that morning, ceasing to settle down to its usual volume. Instead of its usual good spirits, it had surely attested to rambunctious spirits. Pens, names, and challenges flew in the air around everybody's heads as they chanted the amount of hours left until their little game would truly begin.

Master told them that they would have all day the next day to plan out their strategies before starting the game the day after, leaving time to form the teams from the members who'd already signed up to play. This satisfied Lucy greatly, giving her time to head back to her apartment and finally shower off her restless night of berry picking. Though before she'd left, she'd been served an amazing plate of Mira's fluffy golden pancakes that she'd gobbled down almost instantly, not realizing how hungry she truly was.

She also hadn't realized that they'd been topped with a certain type of glistening red berries, and to her dismay and utmost relief, they were absolutely delicious. Her mouth still watered just thinking about them…

Fast forward hours later, Lucy found herself sitting at her faithful wooden desk, her damp hair flowing down her back like a waterfall. The few stray pieces and baby hairs that had dried quickly were now falling into her eyes, and she found herself brushing them away every minute, which turned out to be quite annoying. Reaching for a hair-tie, Lucy went to grab her long hair behind her back, starting to tie it back, only until she realized that with her hair still damp, the tie would most likely create an awkward crease in the golden locks, which would be a complete hindrance to her naturally straight hair. The things she did for beauty..

Frowning and throwing the hair-tie aside, Lucy twisted her hair into a small bun at the nape of her neck, guaranteeing her at least 5 minutes of a hair-free face.

Perfect, that would be all she needed.

Stifling back what would be her twentieth yawn of the evening, Lucy lightly slapped her cheeks to perk herself up, though a cup of coffee would have been a much better—and a less painful—choice. But, seeing as her lack of caffeine symptoms were beginning to act up, she had to act fast before she fell asleep.

It had been over two weeks wince she'd last worked on her novel, and she swore on her mother's grave that she would at least get some of the writing done that night, whether it be just a single sentence or two, or even just one word. She'd slacked off long enough, and it was more than time to give her unfinished novel some love.

Pen poised and ready, she took a deep breath and dove right into her work, letting the words flow from her brain and into her pen.

_The spacious skies were painted with the pinks and oranges of sunset, wiping away the azure blue sky with a fire that consumed the land and her heart to its very core, swallowing up her senses as she ran across the field, the grass sweeping against her bare feet. Her huffed breaths evaporated into the air with small puffs, the aura of autumn drenching the air and removing the remnants of summer. Her lungs ached with every lunge and step she took, but in the end, it would all be worth the pain. She saw him standing in the distance with his back turned to her, ignorant of her existence until she called out his name with a dying and desperate breath. Her eyes overflowed with salty tears when he turned to her, and his face was that of a man trapped in the depths of love. Without another moment's hesitation, she ran straight into his arms, weeping with joy as he held her silently. Then, without another second's delay, he gently cupped her chin and slowly brought his lips down to hers-_

"Hey Lucy!"

A startled shriek escaped from Lucy's glossed lips as she felt a pair of hands grab her waist, causing her hands to jerk outwards and to ultimately draw an accidental black line of ink over her text, destroying part of her 'manuscript'. Out of pure instinct, she felt her arm begin to move along with her body, twisting out of her attacker's hold and turning to face him, pen poised, ready to defend herself. It wasn't until she felt a hand grab her wrist and hold onto it tightly like a vice that her parasympathetic nervous system began to calm her heart rate and slow her breathing. But it did nothing to stop the pit that sank into her belly when her assailant frowned at her.

"You're attacking me with a pen? What're ya gonna do, give me ink poisoning?"

Recovering her breath shakily, her eyes hardened as Lucy slowly lowered her hand down to her side, her fingers loosening their grip on her pen. "If matters see fit, then yeah." Shaking her head slowly and placing her pen back onto her papers, she turned to her invader, and without warning, slapped his arm.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, wincing and hastily rubbing the spot wherein she'd made contact. "What's your problem?!"

_"My problem, _Natsu, is that I've told you over a thousand times that you can't just break into my apartment!" Lucy exclaimed, frowning down at the black line that inevitably blurred her words on the paper together, the wet ink blurring away the product of her brain. Well, there goes her writing for the night.__

Natsu frowned deeply at her. "Why're you bein' so angry? It's not like I walked in your bathroom while you were taking a bath or something like that."

Lucy opened her mouth to retort the dragon slayer, but as her tongue betrayed her by giving her nothing to say, she ducked her head in reluctant defeat, her lips taut. Though on most occasions whenever her partner would arrive at her apartment, she'd either be half naked or fully naked, her only saving grave being the thick steam of her bathroom as she'd struggle between wanting to cover up her body or hitting him senseless. One time, Natsu had actually managed to fall into the bathtub with her, his face landing mere inches away from an area that no man had ever laid his hands upon, let alone his face. Needless to say, he'd ended up with a bloody nose that lasted more than a couple of hours.

Lucy closed her eyes in annoyance, grabbing her papers off of her desk and leaning down to pick up a brown cardboard box that sat on the ground next to her desk. She took the lid off hastily and placed her ruined work inside it, on top of another stack of papers that had scribbles of her handwriting. It was where she kept everything that she'd ever written: letters, stories, mock love letters, et cetera. Her so called novel in progress would be no exception from the box.

As soon as she placed the lid back onto the box, she froze. Her eyes narrowed immediately as she felt the air around her heat up, her back bathed in a warming aura that could only lead Lucy to one solution.

"If you so much as read a single sentence on this paper, I'll cut your tongue off." she said, her eyes narrowing in distaste.

She nodded in satisfaction when the heat suddenly cooled down, meaning that a certain pair of eyes were no longer looking over her shoulder trying to sneak a peek at her unfinished work. To affirm this statement, Lucy turned around to face Natsu, walking right up to him and poking his chin with her pointer finger.

"My tongue?" Natsu asked, his chin moving up and down under Lucy's finger as he spoke. "Isn't that being a little harsh?"

"Hmm…nah." Lucy said, taking her finger off of the dragon slayer's chin, crossing her arms across her chest. "I could do much worse."

Natsu's mouth curled upwards in a cocky grin, his canines peeking out behind his lips ever so slightly. "Then give me your best shot, Luce. Oh, and I didn't know that it was possible to set the sky on fire! I'll have to try it some time."

Lucy frowned, confusion setting into her features. "What are you-You read my story didn't you?!" she suddenly exclaimed, lunging for the box that held her writing and picking up the ink damaged manuscript, her eyes frantically scanning the page until she found the line that made her groan aloud, wiping away the azure blue sky with a fire apparently held a new meaning for Natsu.

Clutching the paper in her hands, Lucy turned around slowly, steam escaping from her ears, only to find Natsu lying down on her couch comfortably. His arms were crossed behind his head, eyes closed in content.

"You shouldn't have done that." Lucy said dryly, putting the paper back into the box and placing the lid back on for the final time that night, putting it back down onto the ground next to her desk. Honestly, the nerve of that boy.

"It's not my fault that you're so dense. If you weren't, you would have noticed me." Natsu stated plainly.

Lucy huffed, her cheeks puffing out as she remained crouched on the ground. "I am not dense!"

"Oh, really?" Natsu's voice rang out condescendingly as Lucy slowly rose to her feet. "Then have you noticed what you're wearing?"

Blinking slowly, Lucy took in the dragon slayer's words. What she was wearing? Lucy cautiously looked down at her chosen apparel, biting down on her lower lip in anticipation, wondering if there had been any tears or rips that exposed a certain area of skin that she wouldn't want to show, though after a few minutes of inspection, she found nothing out of the ordinary.

After her shower, Lucy had decided that she would stay in her apartment for the rest of the night, being too tired to function normally. Staying in meant that she hadn't actually gotten fully dressed, per say, but it did mean that she could have a night in dressed comfortably. She'd searched her dresser for the comfiest piece of apparel she could find, and ended up drawing an oversized cotton gray t-shirt, one that she hadn't even known she owned. For bottoms, she'd only grabbed a pair of boy shorts that ended just above the middle of her thighs. Then were thin, stretchy, and her absolute favorite pair to wear. And besides, it wasn't like she'd wear them in public, she was just in her apartment, a risk free environment…well… almost. Other than that, her resting at home attire seemed pretty normal to her.

Lucy looked at Natsu with her eyebrows raised, shooting him a questioning look.

"That's my shirt." Natsu answered plainly.

Lucy blinked and looked down again at the shirt she wore, grabbing the edge with her fingers and crumpling up the fabric softly, frowning. "What do you mean this is your shirt?" she questioned. "How do you know?"

"Because it's way too big on ya, and it smells like me." Natsu answered her, nodding his head in agreement with his own words.

Lucy let go of the fabric, letting it fall back down to her thighs in a flourish. Maybe he was telling the truth…after all she'd never really seen this shirt too often, and the size looked like it would fit Natsu. To test the theory further, she gripped the shirt around her neck and brought her nose down to it, and inhaled. Sure enough, it was there; Natsu's scent.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Lucy sighed. "I don't have the tolerance tonight. I just want to dry my hair and go to bed." She turned towards the direction of her bathroom to get her blow drier, but stopped when Natsu spoke.

"I'll dry it for you."

Frowning, Lucy turned towards the dragon slayer, who now had jumped off of her couch, looking at her with a purpose, his eyes lingering on her golden hair. In response, she clutched onto her locks, shying away from Natsu with an un-trustful scowl on her face. "And risk my hair getting burned to a crisp? No thanks."

"Aw come on Luce! It'll be fun!' Natsu happily exclaimed, walking closer to her, sending Lucy's anxiety level through the roof.

"F-Fun?!" she squeaked, backing away a few more inches. "You call burning off your partner's hair fun?!" The wall was to her back now, and she pressed herself into it, hoping that she'd become intangible and sink into the depths of the concrete.

"Aww, please?" Natsu pouted, his eyes darting from her hair to her startled eyes. "You're no fun Luce. Don't you trust me?"

Lucy felt a small twinge of remorse enter her stomach, the word trust vibrating through her ears. Sighing, Lucy shook her head. "Of course I trust you, more than anyone, you're my partner. I'd trust you with my life." When she saw his face immediately light up, she quickly extinguished his hopes. "Just not with my hair!' she added quickly.

Natsu frowned, his lips taut. "What is it with girls and their hair? Does it hold a bunch of secrets or something?"

Lucy giggled softly, leaving her position on the wall and walking past Natsu, heading towards her couch to fix a few stray pillows that had been knocked out of their places thanks to the pink-haired mage standing only a few feet away from her. "Those secrets are called conditioner and argon oil."

"Argane oil?" Natsu asked dumbly as Lucy gently fluffed out a pink pillow. "But isn't that what people cook with?"

"It's argon oil." Lucy said shaking her head. "You're thinking of olive oil, and you can use that for your hair too."

When the pillows were placed with her upmost satisfaction, Lucy turned towards Natsu, who was staring at her like she had two heads, his pink brows furrowed in confusion. It was then that Lucy realized that she had probably been speaking a completely different language to the dragon slayer. She could only imagine what he would say to her next, probably something along the lines of "Why would you put stuff you eat in your hair?" Then again, Natsu wouldn't be alone. Gray would've probably thought the sane thing. And Gajeel. And the rest of the male members.

Shaking herself back into focus, she treaded back over to Natsu.

"So, does this mean I can dry your hair?" Natsu asked her, his eyes glittering like a child's.

Lucy shot him a taunting glare. "For the last time, no." she said, poking his chest softly. "Now, get out. I'm going to bed."

As she began to lightly shove him towards the door, she felt Natsu's chest begin to shake lightly. Stopping her movements, her eyes shot up to his, and to her astonishment, they were full of the natural glitter of joy. A large grin spread openly on his face, his canines poking out ever so slightly. His laughter was soft at first, but then it rose to a deafening crescendo. He threw his head back to fully immerse himself in his amusement, whatever it may be.

Lucy blinked in confusion, a frown spreading onto her lips, her eyebrows knitting together. "What?" she asked dryly, only to receive more laughter from Natsu, working her up even further than before. "What's so funny?"

The laughter continued on, sending Lucy further and further into a state of annoyance. Puffing out her flushed cheeks, she threw her hands out in front of her and pushed onto Natsu's vibrating chest, knocking the laughing idiot back a few feet.

"Natsu Dragneel, if you don't stop laughing right now-" she began to threaten, until a tanned hand shot out and cupped her mouth, stopping her speech as she glared up at him with darkened eyes.

The dragon slayer's laughter died down a few seconds later, his eyes boring into Lucy's with a mischievous sheen. She watched as his eyes stared pointedly at the left side of her head, and Lucy had suddenly grown a strange suspicion that he was up to something, something that would without a doubt send her to bed with a migraine.

"You really are dense Luce." Natsu said mockingly, taking his hand away from her lips, setting her mouth free.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at her partner, words forming on her lips that she yearned to release in a flourish, only when her lips opened, she never got a chance to speak.

"If you weren't dense, you would've noticed already." he stated as-a-matter-of-factly, crossing his arms and nodding his head in approval.

"Noticed what?" Lucy asked him, suspicion drenching her voice.

Natsu then brought his hand up towards his head and suddenly began to muss up his hair, a smile spreading onto his lips. "Your hair!" he exclaimed.

It took a few seconds for Lucy to process what the dragon slayer was getting at, mulling over his words for a few seconds before her eyes widened. Her hands frantically flew up towards her head, her fingers clinging onto either side of her golden-blonde locks.

What did he mean? What had happened to her hair? What could Natsu have possibly been talking about? Did he smell some stray chemical in her shampoo that would make her go bald? Had she gotten ink on it from earlier? Oh Mavis, she hoped that wasn't the case.

"What did you-" she exclaimed, only to cut herself off when her hands travelled further downwards, her left hand stopping as soon as she felt a change in texture. Blinking slowly, Lucy continued to trace her hair all the way down to the tips, her heartbeat slowing down when she realized that her hair was perfectly fine.

Perfectly fine…and dry.

As if she didn't believe what she'd felt, Lucy ran her fingers along her hair once more, and for the second time, she felt the unmistakable sensation of dried hair running through her fingers, silky and smooth to the touch and completely devoid of any moisture. It was as if the air had sucked up the remnants of her shower, leaving half of her head completely dry and silky smooth.

As if the answer to her question weren't obvious enough, Lucy's eyes darted immediately towards Natsu's and his grin gave him away completely.

"How did you-" Lucy began, until realization hit her like a ton of bricks, thinking back to only a few minutes ago, when she'd blatantly walked right past the dragon slayer, giving him ample opportunity to…

Rubbing her dry hair between her fingers, her scowl darkened as Natsu's grin widened.

"I hate you." she miffed, turning her head to the right to break eye contact with him. As much as Lucy was annoyed, she silently scolded herself for not realizing that he'd actually grabbed her hair, shouldn't she have noticed it in the first place? Maybe she really was dense…

"Nah, you love me." Natsu replied, laughing softly. "And look, you're hair isn't burnt off. Told ya!"

Lucy shook her head at Natsu's speech, refusing to give him any indication that for once, he was right. Her hair, if anything, was the opposite of burned, dried to a silky sheen that flowed down her shoulders like a golden waterfall. Surprisingly, Lucy had never been able to make her hair so soft, not even after experimenting with conditioners and hair serums. Who knew that, all along, the secret to her desirable hair would be Natsu? Certainly not her.

"Maybe not, but-" Lucy began, turning to face Natsu one more time, only to find that he had moved across her living room and stopped right in front of her, making her halt her speech as his tanned hand suddenly shot out and gently grabbed the other portion of her hair that had yet to be dried. Lucy looked up to continue what she had intended to say, but was once again left wordless.

He was doing it again, giving her that strange look that sent her insides into a nervous frenzy, the butterflies taking flight for the second time that day. Against her will, Lucy found her hand making its way towards her abdomen, settling above the flowing fabric of her borrowed shirt, her fingers digging into the gray.

Their eyes were connected, as if by a magnetic force, clover on chocolate. As Lucy studied his eyes closely, she realized that there was something different about them, that something had been out of place, not normal. No, he wasn't possessed or bloodshot, but even so, something made Lucy want to look deeper into those enchanting irises of his, wanting to uncover what it was that made her heart beat unsteadily, wanted to know why it was only now that she'd noticed a strangeness to Natsu's eyes. And it made her curious, very much so.

She felt a heated flush blossom on the back of her neck when she felt his hand brush her skin as he brought it forward, a fist full of golden hair clutched in his tanned hand. She'd realized that the second his hand passed over a few strands of hair, they would be instantly dried to a silky smooth finish, leaving Lucy astonished due to the fact that she was actually letting this happen, not to mention that not a single hint of steam rose from her hair.

He hadn't broken eye contact with her as he did so, his eyes lingering over hers as he finally reached the tips of her hair.

"See?" he said softly. "No burned hair."

They stood in silence for a few minutes, Lucy's mind slowing to a lazy stream of euphoria, not enough to get her excited, but just lively enough so that she knew something was indeed happening to her body. Warmed chills faintly buzzed all throughout her veins when Natsu slowly released her hair, leaving Lucy barely touched and barely coherent.

"Th-Thanks.." she said awkwardly, the pink lanterns in her cheeks igniting their fire once more.

She heard an audible gulp from the boy in front of her. "Sure."

When the second round of silence dragged upon them, Lucy was the first to break it apart.

"Ne, Natsu?" she asked, shyly turning her head to the right.

"…Yeah?" he finally answered, his voice a bit unsteady, which surprised Lucy greatly.

"Why…why were you looking at me like that?" she asked softly, her stomach dropping down a couple of levels before finally sinking down into the depths of her feet. As she waited for his response, she felt the anticipation eating her alive. What would he say? What could he say? All that she knew was that she had to find out why he gave her butterflies all of a sudden, and why he continued to.

His response was nothing short of typical Natsu.

She felt an insistent tugging on the lower half of her shirt, and her eyes flew upwards to meet his once again, only this time, that mysterious shimmer had vanished. Instead, his lips spread into a mischievous grin.

"Gimme my shirt back."

Lucy felt an embarrassed flush spread upon her face like wildfire as she felt her shirt being lifted up, exposing her midriff against her liking. Eyes enlarging to the size of volleyballs, her hands flew downwards and clamped down onto Natsu's, stopping the pervert in his tracks.

"What in the hell are you doing?!" Lucy exclaimed, her face red.

"Like I said, I want my shirt back!" Natsu exclaimed, tugging at her shirt. "Give it back, Luce!" he almost whined.

Pushing down harder on his insistent hands, Lucy's eyes narrowed. "I'll gladly give it to you when I'm not wearing it!" she exclaimed. "Now, let go!"

"I've seen you without a-"

"That doesn't matter!"

"Well, why not?"

"Any person would know why not!"

The two of them bantered back and forth, Lucy's grip on her shirt iron tight. The two of them each fought for dominance as they tugged on the fabric, Natsu pulling upwards while Lucy pushed downwards.

"Natsu!" Lucy seethed in between her teeth. "Let go-GAH!"

The two conflicting pressures were suddenly too much to handle at once, causing Lucy's hands to slip as she pushed down onto Natsu's. The small slip had caused Lucy's upper body to go down with her hands, and she felt her head slam into Natsu's chest, which was apparently enough force to send Natsu down with her. He'd grunted as soon as he felt himself begin to fall, and Lucy let out a squeak of surprise as she felt gravity take her wholly, squeezing her eyes shut for the anticipation of the floor smacking her in the face.

A few seconds passed before Lucy decided to be brave and open her eyes. Eyelashes fluttering, she realized that she had never managed to reach the floor, but instead was met with a warm chest.

When she raised her head, their eyes met for the second time that evening. And just as they had done before, they hadn't broken eye contact.

Lucy opened her mouth to speak, but her tongue was paralyzed, unable to form coherent words as she realized the situation she had gotten herself into.

Her hands were pressed tightly against Natsu's chest, her palms spreads out over his firmly sculpted muscles beneath his thin cotton t-shirt. His chest rose up and down, which in turn raised Lucy's hands as she remained planted on top of him. His muscular arms had wrapped themselves around Lucy's waist, as if he wanted to make sure that he would be the one to cushion her fall. Their legs were tangled together on the ground, keeping her in place and, much to her chagrin, keeping her chest pressed closer onto his. Their thighs were pressed together in a rather intimate fashion, so much so, that Lucy remained frozen in her spot for fear that if she tried to stand up, she'd inadvertently make something else follow suit, which made Lucy's face glow red. The shade heightened its hue when she realized that their lips were inches from touching.

An audible gulp was heard from Natsu as his eyes widened, his lips spreading apart just as Lucy turned her head away, her now dry hair falling into her eyes and shielding her face from him.

"Y-You can…keep the shirt."

o-o-o

Lucy sighed as she dipped her fingers into the glass bottle of foundation on her sink, rubbing the thick liquid onto her skin in small circles, trying desperately to hide the pesky blush that continued to bloom onto her face as her mind soared through remnants of last night, cursing her mind for wanting to linger on every little detail imaginable; their tangled legs and pressed thighs were the most adamant of the thoughts; the half emptied bottle of foundation proved this fact.

Giving up, Lucy blended in the last few streaks of foundation onto her face. After examining herself in her bathroom mirror, she nodded, deeming herself worthy enough to be seen by others. For the final touch up, she raised her hands up to the base of her ponytail, and gave it a tug to secure it more into place, guaranteeing that it would remain a ponytail for the rest of the day. Her actions were interrupted by the chime of her doorbell, which Lucy had finally been able to hear for once, since her usual visitors came in through her windows.

Taking one more second to examine herself in her mirror, Lucy left her bathroom and made her way to her door, grabbing onto the brass doorknob with a smile teased on her lips.

Here goes nothing.

"Alright ladies, let's do this!" Cana's voice exclaimed brightly as Lucy opened her door, instantly laughing at her guild mate's enthusiasm as Cana wrapped an arm around Lucy. Lucy then glanced behind the brunette and signaled for everyone to come in.

The previous day, Lucy had volunteered her apartment to be used for planning against the boys in the game. Her apartment may not have been the most spacious, but it was an empty space that the girls could easily take advantage of, assuming that nobody tried to spy on them. Then again, spying was deemed as prohibited by the master, but who knew what could happen. The girls had all agreed on Lucy's suggestion and they immediately set a time for the next day to show up in the morning. And that's exactly what they did.

The team of girls consisted of Lucy herself, Juvia, Wendy, Charle, Evergreen, Cana, Levy, Mira, Lisanna, Bisca, Erza, Laki, and Kinana. A quality team, if they did say so themselves. Each of them brought a uniqueness to the field that made them extraordinary, and Lucy knew that they could win this.

After Lucy had seen each girl into her home, all thirteen of them sat in a giant circle on Lucy's rug, chatting back and forth.

"I have a bet with my husband about who will win." Bisca said coyly, winking at everyone. "So we all better help make this a double win for me, 'kay?"

"Beating Elf-nii will be the highlight of my day." Lisanna joked, though all of them knew how the silver-haired girl admired her big brother.

"Alright, ladies!" Mira's voice chirped up, catching everyone's attention. Lucy's eyes immediately darted to the rose colored envelope that the take-over mage held in her hands, and her eyes shimmered in curiosity.

"Mira-san, what's that envelope?" Wendy asked, leaning forward with her blue hair spilling down her shoulders, her brown eyes wide with curiosity.

"Juvia's curious as well." Juvia stated, running her fingers through one of her blue pigtails.

All of the girls watched with anticipation as Mira held up the envelope. "Well, I'm not entirely sure, though Master did hand a similar envelope to Laxus, though his was blue. I'm assuming that it's instructions to the game we're playing!" Mira said.

That's right, Lucy thought to herself, they still didn't know what type of game they'd be playing. What could it possibly be? A three mile sprint up a mountain? Holding their breath for as long as they could underwater? Lucy felt lightheaded just thinking about it…

"Well, let's not wait any longer!" Cana piped. "Open it up!"

Mira smiled as she ran her fingernail through the top of the envelope, tearing the paper open with just one slice, a satisfying rip ringing out in the atmosphere. They all watched as Mira reached into the envelope and pulled out a folded piece of paper, and with it, a long red cloth.

"Oh, what's this?" Erza asked, reaching out to pick up the cloth, holding out in front of her to inspect closely. Once she un-rolled it, everyone immediately saw the white guild mark stamped onto the fabric.

"A cloth?" Levy asked, her eyebrows raised. "What's that for?"

"Maybe it says something in the letter?" Kinana suggested.

"Maybe." Mira said. "Let's find out."

Mira unfolded the letter, and everyone immediately leaned forward in their seats as she began to read what was written on the paper.

 _"Attention Brats!"_ Mira read aloud. _"This marks the beginning of the end…just kidding! I've just always wanted to say that!"_

A collective chorus of groans erupted around the circle, changing to laughter quickly.

_"As you all know, tomorrow you will all be partaking in a special tradition of Fairy Tail, a tradition that hasn't been upheld since the incident on Tenrou, but nonetheless, the games must go on! This year, the game shall be Capture the Flag!"_

"Capture the Flag?" Evergreen asked, her lips twitching into a mischievous smile, adjusting her glasses slightly. "Interesting."

"So, that's what the cloth is for!" Lisanna exclaimed, taking the cloth from Erza and rubbing her fingers over the fabric.

Lucy's eyes gleamed with excitement. As a child, she'd never really been allowed to play with other children, much less a rowdy game of this sort. And now, as a teenager living on her own, Lucy found her heart pounding with excitement as Mira continued to read.

_"Now, this is no normal game of Capture the Flag, so, I've decided to change it up a bit. Ladies, I am now speaking directly to you. Inside this envelope, you should have found a red cloth that will stand as your flag for this game. As opposed to the original rules, this game will consist of only one team holding one flag, therefore, the boys will not possess a flag like you. In this game, you will be defending this flag with your lives. The boys will seek you out and try to steal the flag, and you are not to let this happen."_

"Keeping a piece of cloth away from some boys?" Cana smirked. "Piece of cake."

_"These are the names of your enemies for the day: Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Laxus, Romeo, Elfman, Happy, Lily, Bixslow, Alzack, Freed, Jet, Droy, and Loke."_

"Loke?!" Cana exclaimed, turning towards Lucy. "You're letting one of your spirits play against us?!"

Lucy threw her hands up together in defense. "Don't look at me! I didn't know about this!"

"Well, he was a member long before Lucy joined, and he did assist Gray in the S class trials." Erza said thoughtfully.

Sighing, Lucy agreed. "I guess so."

_"The following rules are expected to be followed, otherwise, you will automatically lose the game. Number one, the flag must be kept by one person, and one person only. No switching!_

_"Number two, the flag must stay in Magnolia! I'm talking to you, Lucy!"_

Everyone immediately looked to Lucy, and she raised her hands in surprised defense. "Don't look at me! I don't know what's he's talking about."

"He probably means that we can't hide the flag in the Spirit World, Lu-chan." Levy said.

"Damn! That would've been a fantastic idea!" Evergreen sighed. "Way to kill the vibe, Master."

"Hey!" Lucy huffed, amusement in her eyes. "I wouldn't have done it anyway! That would've been unfair to the boys."

_"Number three," Mira continued. "All girls are expected to hide themselves after a fifteen minute head start. After these minutes are up, the boys will seek you out. If they find you, they will try to tag you to get you out of the game. If you are tagged, then you are out. You are then expected to report to the main hall to await the outcome of the rest of the game. Once tagged, you will be searched. If the girl who possesses the flag is caught, then the game is over."_

"Those are some pretty strict rules for a game." Laki commented, resting her elbow on her leg, her chin cupped in her palm. "Though, this'll make things more interesting I'm sure."

_"Number four, the flag must be in plain sight."_

"Sounds fair enough." Lucy shrugged.

_"And finally, number five, if the boys are unable to locate the flag by the time the sun sets, then the girls will claim victory!" Mira read with excitement. "This should be simple enough! All we need to do is keep it up until the sun sets!"_

The girls began to chat excitedly, their eyes glittering with cheer and adrenaline as the red cloth was passed among them, each of them admiring the Fairy Tail insignia stamped on the cloth. When it was Lucy's turn, her excited smile suddenly turned into a frown as she brushed her thumb across the insignia.

"What's wrong, Lu-chan?" Levy asked her.

Lucy sighed with annoyance, holding her head in her hand as an image of a certain pair of dragon slayers swam into her mind, their eyes taunting.

"This is the problem." Lucy said, holding up the cloth for everyone to see. "And we're the problem as well." she continued, gesturing to everyone as well as herself.

Almost a dozen eyes blinked back at Lucy slowly, clearly not understanding what she was trying to say. To prove her point, she tossed the cloth to the middle of the circle and directed her attention towards all of the girls.

"Lisanna," Lucy began. "What type of shampoo do you use?"

The silver-haired mage blinked back at Lucy twice before saying her answer uncertainly. "Uh, I think it's coconut scented?"

"And how long have you been using that shampoo?" Lucy inquired.

Lisanna rubbed her fingers through her almost-shoulder length hair. "Oh, I use it all the time! It's my favorite brand and-"

Lisanna's eyes suddenly widened in realization as her fingers slowly dropped from her hair, her mouth opening into a small 'o' shape. "Oh, crap." she cursed, her eyes trailing over to the cloth that lay innocently in the middle of the circle, making her eyes widen even further. "Oh, _crap."_

Suddenly, everyone understood.

"It's practically a game of hide and seek, and what better people to track down other people hiding than dragon slayers?" Lucy asked them, shuddering while picturing Natsu's condescending grin.

"Natsu-san and Gajeel-san can…" Wendy trailed off, her brown eyes matching everyone else's.

"Well, this is just perfect!" Evergreen sighed in exasperation. "How are we gonna win if those two can track us down using their noses?!"

"Not to mention their hearing." Erza said dryly.

"What if we switch up the shampoo we use?"

"That won't matter, they'll still smell us."

"And hear us."

"And tag us."

"And win." they all recited, collectively groaning.

"Hold on guys!" Mira's voice suddenly chimed out, her nose still buried in the piece of paper she held in her hands. "There's more writing!"

The girls instantly directed their attention back to Mira as she read.

_"Now to address some concerns that you ladies may have. Due to the existence of dragon slayers and their special tracking powers, I have taken the liberty of dousing the flag in a special liquid that I've concocted myself. It's clear, odorless, and wipes away any trace of a scent. I have also taken the liberty of making this same liquid into a perfume that you will apply before the game begins. That way, you will be untraceable by your scents."_

As soon as Mira was done reading, Cana instantly lunged for the flag and shoved it directly under a startled Wendy's nose.

"Can you smell anything?" Cana asked her, watching as Wendy carefully took the cloth from Cana and inhaled it deeply, closing her eyes to concentrate.

After about thirty seconds, Wendy opened her eyes and glanced down at the cloth, a frown developing on her face. "I…don't smell anything. This is very strange."

"But that's good! Now we don't have to worry about our scents!" Juvia said brightly.

"Yes well, I wouldn't be so sure about that." Mira said, slowly turning to Lucy, her blue eyes twinkling with something strange.

Lucy stared back at Mira and frowned, spreading her lips to ask what the take over mage had meant, until she realized that everyone had suddenly began to stare at her in a similar fashion.

Lucy crossed her arms protectively over her chest, an embarrassed flush spreading onto her cheeks. "What?"

A few stray giggles broke Lucy out of her embarrassment. She slammed her hands down onto her carpeted floors, her eyes scanning each of her friends in suspicion. "What am I missing? What's going on?"

"Oh, come on Lucy." Cana sighed, giving the blonde a knowing look. "Natsu will probably be able to find you even without that perfume."

"You'll be the first one he goes after." Mira nodded.

"Definitely." Erza agreed.

"No doubt." Levy giggled.

"Guys!" Lucy exclaimed. "I highly doubt that he'll specifically target me first, their objective is to find the flag, not specific people!"

"Right." Cana agreed. "And once he finds you, you'll sneak away to a more comfortable spot and have the best make-out session of your life."

Lucy's entire face was on fire, and it didn't help that twelve pairs of eyes were staring her down as she sat there helplessly. Flustered and frustrated, Lucy turned around and grabbed a pink pillow that was seated on her couch and hugged it to her chest tightly, burying her face into it.

"Come now, it's rude to make such vulgar assumptions." Charle's voice rang out haughtily, causing Lucy to look up at the white exceed. She'd have to remember to thank her one day, at least somebody had decency.

"Then again," Charle said, making eye contact with Lucy before her small lips curled up into a haughty smile. "It's rude to lie to your fellow girls."

Back into the pillow Lucy's face went.

"So it's true?!" Levy's voice asked her, shock permeating through the room, causing Lucy to warily raise her head from the pillow cautiously.

"Is what true?" she asked them, her heart pounding in anticipation.

"That…uh…well, you know." Levy said awkwardly, her own face beginning to blossom into a red hue.

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "No, Levy-chan, I obviously _don't know."_

What on earthland could she have been getting at? What could one of her best girl friends possibly be so embarrassed about? Usually, whenever Levy's face turned bright red like that, it was due to a question concerning Gajeel-

Lucy's eyes widened. _Oh no._

"There's rumors going around, Lu-chan…rumors that you and Natsu…" Levy said awkwardly, shooting her friend an apologizing look.

Lucy felt like her head was about to explode. "What rumors?" she asked slowly.

"That you gave your v-card to Flame-o." Cana replied with a sly grin on her face. "That you and him fu-"

"NO!" Lucy shrieked as she stood up and chucked the pillow straight into Cana's face, effectively stopping the card mage's speech. Lucy's entire body began to heat up, a wildfire rampaging in her cheeks and her stomach, her eyes widened with shock and embarrassment. "Don't you dare finish that sentence, Cana!"

The pillow slid down Cana's still smirking face. "But the way you're overreacting must mean that-"

"No! Natsu and I never had sex, okay?!" Lucy exclaimed, witnessing the mixed reactions happening around her. While Wendy's flushed face matched Lucy's, Erza and Juvia were sporting matching blushes on their cheeks as they looked off to the side uncomfortably. Mira and Cana, however, were still smirking at the flustered blonde. Everyone else just laughed lightly at Lucy's reaction.

"Okay, okay, we believe you." Cana sighed amusingly, causing Lucy's flush to calm down only slightly. As she sat down shakily, Lucy exhaled in exasperation.

"Honestly…" Lucy grumbled to herself, which in turn caused Cana to laugh once more.

"Oh, can you blame us?" Evergreen said good-naturedly, shaking her head. "We're not blind, we can sense the chemistry between you two."

Lucy turned her head to the side, her cheeks puffed out. "We do not have chemistry." she said unconvincingly.

"You're such a liar." Cana joked, tilting her head in the direction where Wendy sat. "Hell, I bet that little one can practically smell the chemistry between you two."

Laughter erupted all around the circle as Lucy rolled her eyes, though paused mid eye-roll when the laughter stopped suddenly, creating an incredibly heavy cloud of silence that told Lucy that her morning would never get better.

"Well…actually…"

Slowly, Lucy turned towards the female dragon slayer, and she didn't like what she had seen.

She was sitting cross-legged with her hands gripped tightly together. Her hair was covering her flushed face, and finally, raised her face up to meet the others' but slowly turned her head to face away from them.

Nobody spoke, and while their eyes slowly widened to the sizes of their heads, Lucy wished for a bolt of lightning to strike her dead.

"Shit." Evergreen said, her voice raising a couple of octaves, along with her eyebrows. "Are you serious?"

"Oh my Mavis…" Mira said with wonder, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth.

And then, laughter.

"Hold on, _waitaminute!"_ Cana exclaimed, slurring her words together in an excited rush as she gasped with surprise, obviously living in the moment with glee, amusement spread and smothered across her features like butter on toast. "You mean to tell me," she inched closer to Wendy. "That you can actually smell them getting turned on?!"

Wendy made an audible gulp, and when she gave the slightest of nods, Cana screeched with laughter.

"This is too good! Oh my Mavis, this is amazing!" she almost cackled, falling down onto the ground from her crouched position and rolling onto her back.

Lucy shook her head, trying to rid herself of this world. Maybe, if she shook her head fast enough, she'd drown in the stars that would form in her dizzied state.

"Y-You…You can't be serious!" Lucy exclaimed, looking to Wendy. "Wendy?' she pleaded, looking into matching brown eyes. "Please tell me that this isn't true, and that you've only been smelling my perfume! Wendy!"

The girls held their eye contact for over thirty seconds before Wendy finally sighed, a defeated look glittering in her eyes.

"Lucy-san, do you know what pheromones are?" she asked.

Lucy pursed her lips as the familiar word was processed in her brain. They were the chemicals that a male and a female unconsciously released while in love. They gave strange pitfalls in stomachs, blushes on cheeks, and the desire to, well in a better sense, get it on. Yes, she knew exactly what pheromones were, she'd read enough romance novels to know what they did and how they helped with…erm…sexual activity. Lucy was surprised that Wendy even knew what those chemicals were, then again, she was Wendy…and that girl had more surprises in her that one would might expect.

When Lucy nodded, Wendy continued her mini lecture.

"Well, when they're released…I can sense and smell them. Each person's pheromones has a distinct smell, no two peoples' smells alike.

"They can even…linger." Wendy finished awkwardly, her eyes darting to a spot in Lucy's room behind the blonde's head.

Frowning, Lucy turned her head to follow Wendy's line of sight, and she immediately wished she hadn't.

Wendy's eyes were set a few feet away from Lucy's couch, right where she and Natsu had…

The image from last night shuffled to the front of Lucy's brain, and she'd never felt so mortified in her life.

"Wendy, why didn't you tell us about this ability?" Erza asked her.

Wendy looked away from Lucy. "I…didn't want to embarrass anybody."

 _You're a little too late_ Lucy thought, but nonetheless, shot Wendy a small smile, which in return relaxed the female dragon slayer.

"And Lucy-san isn't the only one, you know." Wendy said, closing her eyes and raising her chin pointedly around the circle, and Lucy watched with glee as the faces of Evergreen, Mira, Erza, and Juvia all lit up. Oh, revenge was sweet indeed.

Lucy prayed to Mavis that the Master's special perfume would mask every scent of her body, as it said it would.

Damn you, pheromones.

"Guys!" Mira's voice rang out suddenly, breaking the tension in the room. "There's more writing on the paper!"

As everyone eagerly turned their attentions back to Mira, Lucy sighed in relief, thankful that her mortification had been halted…for now.

_"Once the game is over, we will have a formal ball held in the guild! That means dresses, suits, five star cooking…you name it! Better be prepared, you all better have your dancing shoes handy!"_

"A ball?!" Erza exclaimed, standing up in her spot on the ground. "But, I'm not prepared!"

"Neither is Juvia!" the water mage exclaimed, joining Erza in her standing up position. "Juvia needs a dress!"

"Relax, everyone!" Mira said. "We'll do some shopping after our session, which, we really need to handle at the moment."

Sighing, Juvia and Erza re-joined their friends on the floor, and the planning began.

"So," Kinana inquired. "Who's gonna hold the flag?"

An audible smirk was heard, and all the girls immediately turned towards Erza.

"Don't worry, I have the perfect person in mind." Erza said knowingly, her eyes meeting the pair that belonged to the girl who would surely lead them to victory.


	4. Stars, Stilettos, and Stella

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls play dress up, and Lucy bonds with a new friend

Their plan had been nothing short of brilliant, so brilliant in fact, that Lucy was utterly amazed at the finished product. Not only had they been able to create a scenario in which they would inevitably frustrate the boys, but they'd also ensure that the outcome of the game would go to their favor entirely. It was simple enough to understand and carry out, yet just complicated enough to work into their intricate strategy.

Lucy really had to hand it to Erza, Mira, and Levy for creating the so-called backbone of the plan, working out the details and filling all of the holes. Then again, those three were part of the veterans of Fairy Tail's little game, so experience definitely helped with their cause. Although, it didn't help that the majority of the male team was made up of guild vets, but that matter was trivial at the moment.

Coming up with a kickass game plan? Done.

The next hurdle? Dress shopping.

Lucy felt shivers of excitement trill down her spine and into her fingers and toes as she adjusted the strap of her purse to fit the length she desired. In all her years, she'd been fitted and secured into tight fitting frilly dresses that were picked for her. This would be the very first time that she'd be able to pick a dress for herself, accommodating her preferences of color and fit. Yes, it seemed extremely trivial compared to the other freedoms she'd been granted, such as decorating her apartment and—though sometimes it was a dreaded privilege—paying her rent. But for now, it was enough to satisfy her excitement.

The girls had entered a shop in uptown Magnolia called Divination, to which Cana was sarcastically disappointed that none of the employees held such talent in the actual divination department such as herself, but all was forgiven when they were handed bubbling pink liquid in champagne glasses, complimentary of course. Lucy typically wasn't a fan of alcohol, but as soon as the pink drink travelled down her throat, she was absolutely mesmerized by its taste; strawberries and cream was typically a flavor that served in the younger children's department of softened drinks; the bubbles popped against Lucy's tongue happily as a faint flush spread upon her cheeks.

"Bring me some more of this stuff!" Cana exclaimed as she quickly downed her second glass while the other girls were still working on their first one. And while it didn't surprise Lucy that Wendy hadn't been offered a drink, one of the sales associates brought the little dragon slayer another glass filled with a more opaque pink liquid, a virgin drink that made Wendy's eyes light up.

"Feel free to look around all you want! If you'd like to try on a dress, just ask one of us and we'd be glad to help!" A red-headed sales associate chirped as she sauntered away from them and towards her fellow employees, who were chatting away about something.

Lucy ran her fingers through the silk fabrics of the dresses on display, smiling contently as the fabric passed fluidly against her fingers, almost as if the fabric were water. An enormous palette of colors flashed and danced before her eyes, enchanting her into a daze of rainbows. Her eyes darted from dresses of aquamarine to ruby, even to the most exotic colors of dresses such as sarcoline and xanadu. Each dress led to a small surprise, whether it had been a glittering patch of jewels around the waistline or extra padding just under the bust, it was purely a girl's paradise.

Lucy's mind raced as she wondered what color dress she'd want for the evening, after all, she clearly had so many options displayed before her that she'd started to become a little overwhelmed. Did she want strapless? Or maybe a halter top? She didn't know exactly what she wanted, but since she finally had the freedom to choose, shouldn't she have already figured out what it was she wanted? Oh, the irony.

And as she picked through dress after dress, she couldn't help but wonder what Natsu would wear that night, and that maybe, just maybe, they'd happen to conveniently match colors…

"Umm…Lucy-san?"

Lucy's fingers froze on top of a sparkling chartreuse dress as she turned to address the speaker who stood a few feet away behind her. When Lucy saw who it was, she flashed her visitor a bright smile. "Oh, hi Juvia! What's up?"

Lucy noted the embarrassed flush on Juvia's cheeks as the water mage nervously toyed with the black material of her tank-top, her blue hair spilling down her shoulders in liquid-like cascades. She looked up at Lucy worryingly with her ocean blue eyes.

"Juvia?" Lucy frowned. "Is everything alright?"

Juvia shook her head from side to side, thoroughly messing up her hair's natural curl. "Oh, everything is fine, Lucy-san. It's just that…well…"

Lucy's fingers immediately left the dress she'd been inspecting, and diverted all of her attention to Juvia, who by the looks of it, was uncertain about something.

"Juvia's never bought a dress before." Juvia said awkwardly, her eyes darting over to glance at the rack of dresses behind Lucy. "She doesn't know where to…start."

A few seconds passed before Lucy realized that Juvia had asked for Lucy's help, and if she were being honest to herself, she felt utterly flattered. Her lips curled upwards into a glossed smile as she grabbed Juvia's wrists excitedly.

"Of course! This'll be so much fun, Juvia!" Lucy said brightly, feeling accomplished when Juvia's eyes began to sparkle.

Lucy quickly lead Juvia over to the racks of dresses she'd been examining previously, and her trained eyes began to assess every dress that came into her field of vision, while Juvia did the same. The girls went through dress after dress individually, and while Lucy didn't exactly know Juvia's taste of clothing, she had a slight idea to search for something blue considering the blue dress-coat Juvia seemed to wear daily.

Balancing her champagne glass in one hand, Lucy adeptly shuffled through the line of dresses, commenting on each one as it was rejected.

Too bleak…too expected…too shabby…

"Lucy-san, have you found your own dress yet?" Juvia's voice trilled as she happily examined the strikingly beautiful dresses displayed before her, catching Lucy's attention immediately.

"Hm? Oh, not yet." Lucy admitted sheepishly. "But no worries! Maybe I'll find the one while I'm helping you out."

Lucy noticed that Juvia's eyes were watching her after she spoke, and she silently wondered what the water mage was thinking about. It certainly made Lucy curious, though her curiosity was short lived.

"How will Juvia know when she's found…the one?" Juvia asked her with curious eyes, absentmindedly brushing her thumb over a cluster of purple sequins on a dress.

Lucy smiled softly, remembering that Juvia didn't really have a past that would have allowed her to purchase such fancy dresses for such posh occasions. Lucy couldn't be quite sure, but she assumed that Phantom Lord had no rhyme or reason to hold exquisite balls or dances in their halls. The closest aspect that the extinct guild probably had to a fancy night would be going out and tormenting innocent people for the fun of it, maybe some of them would wear new spiky boots for the occasion? She could only imagine so much.

Lucy frowned as she thought about what to tell Juvia. After all, it was only dress shopping, but then Juvia wasn't the type of person to take any new experience she'd partake in lightly.

"Well…it'll…stand out from the others all together. It'll have that special something that makes you notice it above all the others, kind of like a special signal." Lucy told her, turning her attention back to the dresses in front of her. She grasped onto a hanger and pulled it upwards, though she immediately put the dress back when the electric lime-green satin blinded her eyes. "You'll just know when it's the right one."

Lucy bit down on her lip in concentration as she continued her search. And while she picked up dress after dress, she went through a mental check list of what would look good on Juvia, taking into account her hair color and body shape. And if that didn't suffice, then she'd think about how the dress would look on her, though Lucy mainly focused on helping her friend.

"Do you know what I mean, Juvia?" Lucy asked, suddenly realizing that Juvia hadn't said a single word for the past few minutes of their dress hunt. Lucy wondered why she was suddenly so silent, so she turned towards Juvia. "Juvia-"

"A certain feeling…" Juvia said softly, her eyes softening as she stared down into a sparkling aqua fabric that she clutched in her hands, though most of the dress was hidden from Lucy's point of view. Lucy could see the glitter reflecting in Juvia's ocean blue eyes, accenting the warm blush spreading on her cheeks.

"Juvia?" Lucy asked her, walking away from her line of dresses and peeking over ever so slightly to take a glimpse at the dress Juvia held in her hands, marveling at how the dress sparkled so radiantly, and the color shone bright against Juvia's pale hands.

Lucy nudged Juvia with her elbow, her drink sloshing around in her glass. "Go try it on!"

Juvia broke out of her trance immediately, turning to face Lucy with surprised eyes. "T-Try it on?"

Lucy rolled her eyes and smiled as she raised her hand to wave over a strawberry-blonde sales associate. "Excuse me, she'd like to try this dress on!" Lucy chirped cheerfully, pushing down lightly onto Juvia's shoulders as the water mage began to blush violently.

"Lucy-san! Juvia-"

"You won't know if you really like that dress until you try it on!" Lucy urged, leading her to the cheerful associate who gestured for Juvia to follow her to a nearby fitting room. "Just go, Juvia! And come out and show me when you're done!"

Juvia looked back at Lucy nervously, but all Lucy did was wink at her friend while she was escorted into the other room.

"Oh, that color will match marvelously with your hair!" the associate beamed, making Juvia smile softly, gazing down at the glittering dress in her hands.

"Juvia's hair isn't full of silver sparkles though." Lucy hear Juvia remark before she was out of her sight, leaving Lucy all alone, except for her bubbling strawberry champagne.

Lucy sighed in amusement, Juvia's face still swimming in her head vividly as she turned her attention back to the dresses available to her. And though she wished to continue her search for the dress she'd need, she found her feet stamped firmly on the ground and unmoving.

She'd been looking around for a dress for a good two hours, and while some of the other girls had already found dresses of their own, Lucy still hadn't found one that caught her eye, which of course wasn't the worst thing in the entire world. She had time, though not much of it. She had to find a dress by the end of the day, and if she didn't find one, who knew what she would do. Then again, she'd promised Juvia that she'd help her on her dress hunt, and Lucy was extremely happy to do so, no doubt. However, there was still her hurdle of finding a dress. Shopping was a sport to Lucy, she was good at it and knew what she was doing. So why couldn't she find a dress? Each one had something that displeased her, even if it was the smallest of flaws, like too low of a neckline or too much beading. Maybe her eyes were just tired of looking through silk and satin.

And with a sudden flourish of an idea, Lucy's decision sparked to life.

Taking a quick glance around, Lucy dug into her leather pouch clipped to the belt above her white skirt, feeling around for a certain item. When her fingers brushed against cool metal, she withdrew her hand immediately, pulling out a glistening gold key. Lucy could feel the spark of exhilarating magic respond to her touch, fueling her very core and providing her with the words she needed.

"Open, gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"

The golden key began to glow and shimmer brightly, emitting a pleasant chime throughout the air as Lucy felt her magic reach far and beyond.

A dash of glittering light and a pop of an incandescent glow later, Virgo stood before Lucy.

"Good afternoon, Princess." Virgo greeted, bowing slightly, the chains around her wrists lightly jingling as she did so.

"Hey Virgo." Lucy greeted, pausing to take a small sip of her bubbling drink. "I need you to do me a favor."

The celestial spirt's eyes lit up like stars, shimmering with hopeful excitement. "What punishment shall I receive today?!" she asked excitedly, which made Lucy sigh loudly, shaking her head vigorously.

"No, nothing to do with that." Lucy said, turning around and gesturing to the racks of dresses displayed behind them. "I need you to help me find a dress."

"Shall I try each and every dress on for reference?" Virgo asked her enthusiastically. "It would make a very adequate punishment."

"No, no." Lucy said quickly, quickly shaking away any thoughts of that sort of form from Virgo's hasty mind. "There's an event at Fairy Tail tomorrow night, and it's formal. I haven't had any luck finding a dress so far, and you know my taste."

Virgo nodded. "Yes, nii-chan has informed me of the event. He also claims that the males will be the victors of the game."

Lucy rolled her eyes and smiled as a picture of a snarky Loke swam into her thoughts. "Not gonna happen." she told Virgo, who nodded back at Lucy. "And I'm sure that if I need some help, I can count on you guys to provide it for me."

"You can count on us, Princess." The maid promised before spinning on her heels and diving headfirst into the rack of dresses behind her, causing Lucy to sweat-drop.

 _Can't deduct enthusiasm points from her, that's for sure…_ Lucy thought to herself, smiling as a multitude of colors began to shake and flip off of hangers ever so briefly.

Taking another sip of her champagne, Lucy's body hummed with pleasure as she drained every single drop from the crystallized glass, though the feeling soon passed as it was replaced with a small shot of dizziness, making her vision blur for only a brief second. Frowning, Lucy placed her right hand over her eyes and applied pressure very softly, attempting to alleviate some of her unsteadiness. Perhaps the drink had been too strong for her, or maybe it was due to the fact that she hadn't eaten that day. Whatever the cause, Lucy decided that she'd had enough of any alcoholic drinks that day, and that her stomach was in need of a tomato and basil panini from the cafe down the street.

"Lucy-san?"

At hearing her name, Lucy turned towards the soft voice that called her, and her brown eyes widened immensely as Juvia walked towards her.

The dress, it turned out, hadn't been all of one color, but an ombre of sparkling silver to the darkest ocean blue. The lightest blue of the dress began right beneath her breasts, the baby blue washing into a brilliant aqua, which then drenched and saturated itself into a deep cobalt. Her blue waves accented the color of her dress perfectly, hiding the straps of the halter-top tied behind her neck. The dress hugged her body in all the right places, accentuating her small waist, yet showing off her broad thighs and her voluptuous chest. Her ocean blue eyes sparkled with the fabric, creating an oceanic goddess fresh out of the Fiorian sea.

"Juvia! You-" Lucy began.

"Why do you have a strange look on your face?" Juvia asked Lucy nervously, crossing her arms across her chest, a faint blush creeping up onto her cheeks. "Does Juvia look silly?"

"What? No! not at all!" Lucy assured her, shaking her head vigorously as she ran up to Juvia and grabbed her wrists, excitement stamped onto Lucy's face. "You look gorgeous!"

Juvia blinked before she allowed Lucy to lower her arms from her chest, and slowly but surely, her face began to match Lucy's excited one.

"Do you think so?" Juvia asked her, her eyes shining as she glanced over at a full length mirror hung on the wall, her eyes tracing her body as Lucy nodded enthusiastically. "Juvia wouldn't want to pick the wrong dress."

"Are you kidding?" Cana's voice exclaimed suddenly as she leapt out of the shadows and draped her arm around Juvia's shoulders, grinning at her as she downed her—most likely—fifth glass of champagne. "Girl, you look smoking hot! I'd totally bang you."

Juvia's face quickly began to resemble that of a tomato. "C-Cana-san!" she stuttered.

"Lay off, Cana." Lucy laughed, shaking her head at their friend's unfiltered thoughts, turning her attention back to Juvia. "But she's right, Juvia. You look beautiful! The true Belle of the ball."

Juvia frowned. "Belle? This dress will make Juvia ring?"

"She means that you'll be perfectly presentable for tomorrow night!" Mira's voice suddenly chimed, gliding over towards the girls wearing a flowing white gown with silver embellishments that accentuated her hair perfectly. "Well, after we win, that is."

"You bet your ass we'll win!" Cana exclaimed, letting go of Juvia. "And maybe, along with our victory, we'll wins few hearts as well." Cana nudged Juvia, who immediately went still, hearts beginning to invade her eyes in a cluster of bliss.

Catching Juvia's reaction, Lucy smiled as Juvia sunk deeper and deeper into her ocean of daydreams.

"Gray will love it." Lucy assured Juvia, who blushed even harder than before as Lucy supportingly patted the blunette on her shoulder as she turned her attention away to see if she could locate Virgo. Mavis only knew where the spirit was, she could be anywhere in the mass of chiffon and silk.

"And Natsu-san will have his eyes on you."

Lucy's body froze as Juvia's words hit her eardrums, generating an enormous heat that sunk into her belly as she slowly turned around to meet eyes with a smiling Juvia, who seemed to be innocently playing with the ends of her hair, unspoken words lingering on her pink lips.

Natsu's face slowly began to sneak into Lucy's thoughts as Juvia's smile became seemingly more apparent. The more she tried to shake that pink hair and those incredibly smoldering eyes of his out of her head, the more vivid her vision of him became. His features began to glow as she pictured him smirking at her slowly, his canines poking out from his lips ever so slightly. His tanned skin had been so tantalizingly warm and smooth, so rough and yet so comforting…

"Wh-What makes you say that?" Lucy stammered awkwardly as Juvia strode over to a full length mirror hung up on the wall. Lucy watched as Juvia examined her body.

"You said so yourself, Lucy-san." Juvia told the frowning spirit mage as she did a small twirl while watching her reflection carefully, her voice dropping down to a softened octave as her eyes warmed immensely.

Lucy strode slowly over to a sparkling Juvia slowly, stopping in her tracks when the water mage spoke again.

"He'll stand out from the others all together." Juvia said, tracing the halter straps on her dress slowly. "He'll have something special that makes him stand out, like a special signal.

"And you'll just know…" Juvia murmured softly, turning towards Lucy with a knowing smile. "That he is the one."

Lucy was stuck in a tremendous stupor for a grand total of ten seconds before she began to, for lack of a better word, freak out. Her head shook back and forth vigorously, as if to rid herself of the visions that suddenly began to invade her brain. She knew that Juvia had her moments of ridiculousness, but this was just insane, even for her.

"What?! What are you talking about?!" Lucy exclaimed. "I-I was talking about dresses! Not boys! Especially not-"

"Juvia sees the way Natsu-san looks at you." Juvia interrupted her, looking down at the ground and smiling to herself softly. "She's seen it multiple times."

Lucy's breath caught in her throat as she caught the gist what Juvia had told her, the true meaning behind her words sinking in.

Lucy hadn't been the only one who noticed…Juvia had as well…

"Juvia isn't saying that she's one hundred percent certain, but to completely pretend that something isn't going on would be foolish, wouldn't you agree, Lucy-san?" Juvia asked her, looking her up and down before turning away from Lucy and heading back towards the changing room, her dress trailing on behind her.

Lucy could only watch Juvia leave for two seconds before her big mouth opened up.

"How…are you so sure?" Lucy asked Juvia, immediately dreading her response.

Juvia's steps halted as she turned to face Lucy.

Perhaps, in that very moment, Juvia actually had been a goddess. This time, it hadn't been the dress to convince Lucy that Juvia belonged to a whole other power entirely, but her words were just enough to convince Lucy that maybe, just maybe, there was something that needed to be addressed. That it would be foolish indeed.

"It's the same way that Juvia looks at Gray-sama."

o-o-o

Of all times for Virgo to come through for Lucy, she had surely delivered. Just a few seconds after Juvia left Lucy standing all alone in the middle of the shop, Virgo had popped up behind Lucy holding the most beautiful dress that she'd ever seen, immediately taking it from Virgo's grasp and marveling over it openly in front of a few other shoppers, who giggled at her sudden excitement. It had been enough to distract her from…what had she been thinking about?

Oh…right. As if it would be so easy to forget.

After Lucy had said a silent farewell to the jewel she handed to the cashier, they told her that the store would dry-clean her new dress for her, and that it would be ready to be picked up and brought home in an hour.

Deciding to kill the hour that she'd been graced with, Lucy decided to head across the street to a smaller boutique that sold sparkling accessories and glittering high-heels that were perfect for occasions such as the one occurring the next night, and now Lucy finally had an excuse to buy something for a change, not to mention that she finally had jewel to spend as well.

She brushed her fingers along a bunch of stiletto heels that looked as though they could impale somebody, though she supposed that they were made to look that tantalizing. After all, go hard or go home.

The air smelled pleasantly of orange blossoms and figs, a hefty combination that was extremely pleasing to Lucy's nose, and she occasionally found herself closing her eyes and inhaling the scent deeply before returning her attention back to her shopping, her chocolate eyes catching a pair of golden heels that immediately reminded Lucy of her dress.

They weren't a ridiculous height like the ruby ones sitting next to them, and they weren't that obnoxious either. The light dusted on gold color sparkled as Lucy held it up to the light to inspect them, and while her shoes would be concealed underneath her dress, she was still a girl.

Rule number one of shopping, always inspect the item for damage. That way, she could persuade the shop to give her a discount. After all, she wasn't made of money, and who knows how many jewel she'd have after this shopping trip. Mavis knew that it would be her last one for a while.

Wandering around the store, Lucy lazily glanced at tables that were adorned with scintillating barrettes, becoming mesmerized by their hypnotic jewels and gemstones. Before Lucy had even realized what she was doing, she found herself standing in front of the table, holding a barrette with a heart-shaped topaz gem. Slowly, she traced the gem with her thumb as her eyes stared back at her in the yellow reflection of the rock. The gold embellishments on the tan metal glittered in the artificial light as she tilted the barrette from side to side, becoming amused by its beauty, feeling like an absolute child.

Once she flipped the accessory over and noted its surprisingly cheap price, Lucy happily enclosed it into her palm, making her way over to another section of the store all the while noticing other shoppers admiring cropped t-shirts and mini skirts. Lucy immediately eyed a pale pink top that a girl held in her arms.

That looks incredibly soft she thought to herself as she made her way towards the section of the boutique that displayed some varieties of clothing. Lucy was in desperate need of t-shirts, especially since the day that Natsu had accidentally melted her clothes off during a small training session. Needless to say, he'd melted her favorite staple t-shirt, along with one of her favorite bras, clasp and all. He'd received a hard hit to his head after his attempt of trying to cover her up, which involved hand to breast interaction that was nothing short of infuriating.

When she found a small counter that held folded up t-shirts, Lucy's eyes sparkled when she read the piece of paper taped above the table.

_Buy two, get one free!_

It was her lucky day.

Lucy knew her size, so there was no need to try the tops on and waste time. Deciding to keep things simple, Lucy immediately grabbed a white top. After all, white went with everything, and she certainly had enough skirts and pants that would make an outfit with the top. After grabbing a pink top that resembled the shade of a ballet slipper, Lucy was stuck.

There was no way that she'd pass up free clothing, but there were so many options to choose from, it was like she was back in the dress shop staring at the palette of colors that made her briefly wish that she had been colorblind.

Lucy glared down at the table. It wasn't rocket science, it was shopping.

Frowning, Lucy picked up a lilac and yellow shirt, looking back and forth between them before looking back down at the other colors available. What color? Aqua? Mint? Gray? Orange?

"I'd go with the lilac one."

"Huh?" Lucy heard herself say automatically as she turned to her left, her eyes sweeping over the array of t-shirts and over to a rack with hanging chiffon maxi-dresses, a pair of emerald green eyes catching hers in a flash.

Lucy watched as those green eyes blinked at her evenly, glowing in the daylight against fair and porcelain skin, despite the healthy blush on her cheeks. Her hair fell down to her shoulders in big and flowing curls that couldn't be credited from genetics, her golden brown locks catching sunlight from the store window. Her glossed, pink lips almost matched the shade of color that Lucy'd picked out to wear that morning.

The girl's eyes darted to the lilac shirt in Lucy's right hand, and Lucy instinctively followed suit.

"You think so?" Lucy asked the girl, the color suddenly growing on her.

"I probably sound biased, but that shade of purple is my favorite color." she told Lucy, who turned back to face the girl as she smiled at her, gesturing to her sleeveless peplum top that just happened to be a light lilac. "And, I find that purple really brings out brown eyes, especially yours." She said, though shaking her head quickly and taking on an embarrassed facial expression, holding her hands out. "N-Not to be creepy or anything!"

Lucy laughed at the girl's flustered expression. "Don't worry, nothing creepy about it!" Lucy reassured the brunette as she smiled sheepishly in response, tucking a piece of curled hair behind her ear as Lucy claimed the lilac t-shirt as her own. "Besides, it goes well with green eyes, especially yours." Lucy said wryly, which rewarded her with a few giggles from the brunette.

"I'm Lucy." Lucy said, offering the girl a bright smile as she walked over to the dress rack, extending her hand in a friendly manner.

The girl accepted Lucy's hand without hesitation, and her green eyes sparkled as she smiled brightly at the celestial mage. "My name's Stella. Nice to meet you, Lucy!"

o-o-o

The hot latte was sweet on Lucy's tongue as she took a small sip of the foamy drink, crossing her legs underneath the table outside of the small cafe, her purchases sitting neatly in their bag next to her feet.

So far, Stella had turned out to be a good talk, listening to Lucy all the while laughing at the ridiculous things she'd mutter. They'd found out that they were both eighteen, which turned Lucy's assumption into a fact. They spent the half an hour at the cafe chatting away about trivial things, such as the ugly outfits they'd seen in Sorcerer Weekly, or how the featured male mages were either hits or misses, though the past issue featured a member from Lamia Scale who had the bluest eyes that Lucy had ever seen, and her new found friend had agreed with her immediately. For once, it was kind of nice to meet new people outside of the guild, not that her friends bored her, it was the opposite. After all, her mother always told her to make new friends wherever she went, not matter how many friends she already had.

"So, what brought you to to buy those fancy heels?" Stella asked Lucy as she finished a sip of her latte. "Special occasion of some sort?"

Lucy nodded as she allowed the warm liquid to flow down her throat, sighing as the caramel and vanilla flavors kicked into her tastebuds.

"It's for a ball, actually. My guild is hosting one tomorrow night in honor of a yearly game we play. I had to buy a dress too." Lucy told the brunette, watching as Stella's eyes suddenly widened in excitement.

"You're in a guild?!" Stella exclaimed as she slammed her palms down onto the table, leaning forward towards Lucy, her curled hair dangling dangerously above the foam of her latte. Lucy watched as the girl's eyes turned into glittering emeralds, provoking an amused smile from the celestial mage. "That's awesome! I've always wanted to join a guild, or at least, meet someone who actually is in a guild!" she squeaked, her excitement refusing to dull down for a few more minutes until she sat back down into her seat, laughing nervously.

"Yup, that's right!" Lucy told her proudly, though her excitement got the better of her when it was her turn to lean forward on the table, close enough to Stella's face so that she was able to smell the vanilla of her latte. "So, you're a mage too? And you've haven't joined a guild?" Lucy animatedly asked Stella, who nodded enthusiastically back at her.

"I haven't really had the time to think about it, joining a guild I mean. I've been traveling a lot recently, and it just didn't make sense to join a guild with all the moving around." Stella said, playing with one of her curls as Lucy nodded in understanding. After all, it was only luck that Lucy had bumped into Natsu back then, if she hadn't, she may not be where she was right at that moment. She definitely didn't want to linger on the what if's.

"But, I do have to say that I really love it here." Stella said, leaning back in her seat and stretching her arms out over her head contently. As she did so, the sunlight shone onto her neck, and it was at that moment that Lucy noticed the small silver chain draped around her neck, a necklace of some sort. Lucy's eyes followed the path of the chain down towards the base of Stella's neck, though stopped when the two ends of the chain met just beneath the hem of her shirt, the hanging charm of the necklace completely sunken into the valley of her breasts. Lucy wondered what the necklace could be, though she supposed that it wasn't really her business to know.

"I might look for an apartment." Stella said, gazing up at the aqua umbrella that concealed the girls and the table from the sun. "I have a good feeling about Magnolia."

Lucy nodded, taking a small sip of her latte. "I can fully and truthfully say that Magnolia gets five stars from me, though I've only lived here for about two years. It never gets boring, that's for sure, especially with the guild around."

Stella's eyes landed on Lucy's once again with surprise. "Oh, that's right! You're guild is here in Magnolia. What's the name of it, if you don't mind my asking?"

Lucy shook her head and stood up from her seat. With a smile, she proudly flashed her hand to Stella's vision just as she was taking a small sip from her white coffee mug.

"Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail, at your service!"

It was as if Lucy's name was a taboo itself.

Lucy watched with horror as Stella's eyes widened to the size of beach balls, her irises sparking with alarm. A few seconds later, sounds of violent coughing were coming out of the brunette, her pink lips dripping with coffee and foam as she coughed up the liquid she'd accidentally inhaled. She'd dropped her mug to the cobble-stone sidewalk, and much to her luck it hadn't shattered.

"St-Stella?!" Lucy stammered as the brunette lunged for her mug on the ground, shooting upwards a few seconds after she'd placed it on the table with a shaking hand. "Are you okay?! What happened?!"

Lucy shrieked as she felt her hand being yanked towards Stella's chest, watching as green eyes stared at her guild mark with wonder and amazement. A small bit of foam still lingered on her lips as she tried to speak, only to fail miserably as Lucy's face became red with embarrassment.

"Stella?" Lucy tried again, only to be interrupted.

"You're Lucy!" Stella exclaimed, looking up at a flustered Lucy with shining eyes. "You're _Lucy!"_

Lucy gulped awkwardly. "Y-Yes, that's me. I'm Lucy-"

"Lucy Heartfilia! Lucy Heartfilia, the celestial spirit mage of Fairy Tail!" Stella exclaimed, letting go of Lucy's hand and grabbing onto the blonde's arms, laughing in a joy that sent Lucy into a state of shock. "I knew that you looked familiar! I watched you guys compete in the Grand Magic Games! I've always wanted to be part of the games, but of course I have to join a guild first...but Fairy Tail was just awesome! The way that you battled that girl with the fiery hair was amazing!" Stella praised enthusiastically, bringing Lucy down from her mountain of shock and into a sea of smiles.

"I..kinda lost that match…" Lucy said awkwardly.

Stella looked at her like she was insane. "So? It's not about the end results of the fight, but the effort and heart you put into it." she said softly, smiling down at the ground, looking as though she wanted to remember something. "And that looked like a ton of heart to me."

Lucy felt something warm begin to bubble in her chest as soon as Stella's words sunk into her skin, tattooing a strange pulsation into her entire body.

There was something about Stella that Lucy couldn't quite put her finger on. Lucy felt like they'd been friends for years, regardless of the fact that they'd only met an hour ago. As far as she was concerned, Stella was still a stranger.

But how could a stranger make her feel so…warm? Accepted?

She hadn't felt a warmth like this since she'd first joined the guild.

Since she first met Natsu.

A sudden flash of a reflection shot itself into Lucy's eyes as she sun began to peek out from behind a cloud, which caused her to immediately shut her eyes on reflex, bringing her hand up towards her eyes to rub the light out of them.

"Stella, thank you." Lucy said just as she was beginning to open her eyes once more. "Thank-"

Lucy choked on her words as her eyes landed on Stella's chest, the silver chain around her neck glistening in the sunlight. And though it was full of luster, it wasn't enough to force Lucy to close her eyes all the way like she had.

But the silver key hanging on the end of the chain would do the job.

Lucy could see Stella frowning at Lucy in confusion, but she blatantly ignored the brunette's stares as she examined the key around Stella's neck, realizing that it must have slipped out from under Stella's shirt when she collapsed to ground a few minutes earlier. Her eyes darted over its surface multiple times, just to be sure that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

There was no denying it.

Lucy knew a gate key when she saw one.

"Lucy?" Stella asked the blonde softly. "Are you okay?"

Lucy's chocolate brown eyes met Stella's, and her voice was nothing but a small whisper.

"You…" Lucy began, a sort of impending wonder building up into her chest. "You're a celestial mage?"

Stella blinked slowly at the label she'd been given, frowning at Lucy's question before her hand shot up to grab the silver key that hung below her neck. When her fingers touched the cool metal, her eyes widened in realization as she shook her head quickly.

"Oh, no, you've got the wrong idea here! I'm not a celestial mage." Stella told Lucy with truthful eyes, increasing her grip on the silver key around her neck. "I'm sorry to make you think that." she apologized.

Lucy frowned at her new friend as she raised her finger pointedly at the key. "Then..why do you have a gate key?"

Stella looked down at the shimmering silver key as she enclosed it into her palm tightly, a small smile spreading smoothly onto her lips like melted butter. Her eyes began to swim with something that shook Lucy down to her core. It was a look that she'd seen in her own eyes countless times, and when Stella spoke, Lucy's guess was confirmed.

"It belonged to my mother." Stella told her softly.

Neither of the girls said anything at first, a stunned silence pressing down on Lucy's lips as she tried to press them together in order to not look as shocked as she felt. She watched as Stella's eyes glistened sadly, though there were no signs of tears in her eyes.

Lucy bit back her own once a high-pitched voice floated into her memory, followed by the most calming and soothing melody that Lucy could ever hear of.

_"Mama, mama! Look at my new dress! Isn't it pretty?"_

_"It looks absolutely lovely, Lucy my darling."_

The wind blew onto Lucy's face softly, blowing her hair back and away from her shoulder blades and towards the direction of a field that was across the cafe. Lucy's eyes were immediately drawn to the small glassy plain, the green washing and invading her vision entirely.

A pair of brown eyes identical to hers stared back at her warmly, her heart-shaped face blushed underneath her golden hair. And just as quickly as it came, she was gone.

Her mother, gone, just as it had always been. Just as it always would be.

"So…" Lucy asked Stella softly, her voice uncertain in a manner that any other person would take as approaching a sensitive subject. Though suddenly, Lucy felt a connection with this girl that she couldn't describe with tangible words. "Your mother was…"

Stella nodded, flashing Lucy a small smile. "My mother was a celestial spirit mage, though not like one you'd expect. She ever only had one gate key in her lifetime, she always said that the best bonds were made undivided, but I just think that she was too proud to choose multiple partners for her jobs." Stella said, brushing her thumb over the key, emitting a small clang from the sliver chain. "Then again, she wasn't a big fighter. And neither was Neo."

"Neo?" Lucy asked with curious eyes, glancing down at the silver key, realizing that on the main charm of the key, there was a small black paw print with a flattened green jewel on the crown, right below the chain.

Stella nodded. "Short for Neosilvia, the Gate of the Onyx Panther."

Lucy nodded at hearing the name of the spirit that the key summoned, though she'd never heard its name before. Then again, most silver keys were unique since those were the most common to find in shops. Actually, they were now the only keys that any mage could find in a shop, now that the twelve golden keys were owned by both Lucy and Yukino Aguria.

"Neo's been with my mom since before I was born, and once I was in the picture, she'd summon him to play with me everyday. He was big compared to a small girl, but he was gentle nonetheless. I think he sensed that I was more than just a smaller version of my mother…he didn't even have to be told who I was when we were introduced. He just…knew.

"We played together everyday, he'd let me ride on his back and I'd brush his fur every night. I'd fall asleep next to our fireplace cuddled up against him, and when I woke up, he'd already be back in his world. Mom explained to me that he needed to rest too, and I complained that I wasn't able to visit him in the Celestial World.

"I haven't seen Neo since my mother died." Stella told Lucy, frowning slightly. "I haven't been able to, for obvious reasons of course."

Lucy's lips sank into a concerned frown as she was told this, realizing with a heavy heart that with Stella's mother gone, she couldn't see the spirit that she grew up with. She'd not only lost her mother, but a friend as well. And even after her mother had passed away, and the key had been passed down to Stella, she still couldn't use it.

"I've been so tempted to find a celestial mage to help me out, to summon Neo just so that I could see him again." Stella shook her head. "But I can't."

Lucy frowned. "You can't? I could help you if you want-"

Suddenly everything was clear.

Of course Stella wouldn't want anyone to help her summon Neo, that would mean creating another contract with a different celestial mage other than Stella's mother. And what if the mage wanted to keep the key? That would absolutely break her heart…

"Do you miss him?" Lucy asked her instead, internally smacking herself for asking such a stupid question.

Of course she does you idiot! Her brain screamed at her. Way to show your sentimental side, Lucy.

Stella looked down into her latte, the cocoa colored liquid sloshing around as she brought it up to her lips. "Some days more than others. But I think about him and Mom everyday." After taking a sip from the cup, Stella licked her lips and brought the mug to her chest. "This key helps me feel closer to them, even if I can't see them."

After a pregnant pause, Lucy heard Stella laugh softly, though there was nothing humorous about it.

"Listen to me, telling someone I just met all this personal stuff…you must think I'm crazy." Stella shook her head and glanced at Lucy, though taking on a serious manner when she saw Lucy's frigid face.

Lucy bit down on her lip, feeling her heart stir as she looked down at the ground.

"I lost my mother too." Lucy said softly. "Three of the keys I possess were originally her spirits, and they were passed down to me. I can't help but think of her whenever I hold them."

It was funny how things all come into place at certain times. A sudden rush of wind promotes the purchase of a new sweater. A sudden pang of thirst brings the best tasting bottle of water someone's ever tasted, even though they've drank it many times before. A steaming bowl of soup eaten after harsh and frigid winter day suddenly tastes more divine than it ever had before. And a stranger who wouldn't be glanced at twice, suddenly became noticeable.

That was just what Stella was, a person who had once blended into the background was suddenly a shining silhouette of interest that most definitely sparked Lucy's attention in more ways than one. What once was a day of prep with her guild mates became an encounter with a new friend, and Lucy couldn't have been happier to find someone who finally…understood.

"Ugh!" Stella exclaimed suddenly, slamming her mug down on the table. "This is a great way to meet people huh, telling them about your sad backstory. Must be a defect in the Demarva genes or something."

Lucy blinked in surprise at Stella's sudden zero to sixty attitude, but she grinned at her nonetheless.

"You should be more careful ya know." Lucy mocked Stella, nudging her with her elbow. "You just told a stranger your surname. Stella Demarva, huh?"

Stella winked seductively at Lucy. "The one and only. And you told me yours, so it's only fair."

"But you technically knew who I was before we met!" Lucy argued, laughing when Stella put on a pouty face. "And you knew what magic I used too! And that reminds me, if you're not a celestial mage, then what type of magic do you practice?"

Lucy watched as Stella's face slowly lit up with excitement, her glossed lips spreading into a smile. "I'm glad you asked."

Stella grabbed Lucy's wrist and tugged her hard, pulling a surprised Lucy away from the tables of the cafe, forcing her to abandon her latte. "Come on!"

"W-Wait! Where are we going?!" Lucy exclaimed as Stella dragged her across the paved road, heading towards the small field of grass across the street, a sea of green in the middle of a bustling town. A few maple leaf trees stood proudly in the distance, the leaves painted with the reds and golds of a budding autumn season.

"Just watch!" Stella exclaimed brightly as Lucy felt the grass swish underneath her boots while Stella released her wrist and continued to run a few more feet until she spun on the ball of her foot to face Lucy again. The wind picked up as Stella placed her feet firmly into the long blades of grass, stretching her arms out to her sides along her hips, and took a deep breath.

Lucy watched with a small frown as Stella's fingers moved slightly, her eyes darting all along the grass while nothing seemed to be happening. Was she missing something?

"What are you-" Lucy began to inquire, until the first hit of an aroma invaded her nose, making her instinctively inhale deeply, sighing at the sweetness of the smell. As Lucy inhaled deeply, the perfumed scent increased its strength, filling her senses with a vision of spring.

And then, she was surrounded.

Her chocolate eyes widened as the green around her began to bud with a multicolor spectrum of flower buds, popping up and spreading out all across the field. Beautiful and tantalizing shades of reds, blues, pinks, yellows, and oranges filled Lucy's sight as a circle of purple lilac flowers began to bud around her feet, emitting a fresh and intoxicating scent that captured Lucy in a state of bliss. Her eyes traced the flowers all the way to the end of the field, and gasped when the once autumn stricken leaves of the trees melted back into their fresh green shade, leaving no sign of the current season.

Lucy watched as the flowers grew up to her knees, the petals spreading out and booming open to reveal complete and matured flora that Lucy had never seen before.

She was surrounded by pure spring.

"This is…" Lucy tried to speak, laughing as she picked up a flower that would put the blue sky to shame. She placed it atop of her right ear, the stem fitting into her hair nicely. "Beautiful…" she finished in a whisper.

Lucy's eyes met a grinning Stella's and she laughed at Lucy's awestruck face.

"Like it?" Stella asked her enthusiastically, her clover eyes sparkling.

"This is incredible!" Lucy exclaimed, rushing over towards Stella to grab her wrists and shake them excitedly. As her legs brushed against the flowers, their perfume shot up into the air, sweetening the natural oxygen. "I've never seen magic like this before! What's it called?"

Stella giggled as she bent down to pick up a yellow pansy, mimicking Lucy's idea and placing it above her ear, making it rest in her hair. "It's called Spring Caster magic."

"Spring Caster magic…" Lucy repeated, her eyes sweeping over the now colorful field. "I've never heard of it before."

"I don't blame you, nobody really has." Stella shrugged. "My grandmother's mother was a spring mage, so I guess it skipped a couple of generations and now it's my turn."

Lucy nodded, her face still awestruck by the colors surrounding her. "So what you're saying is, you're basically a flower child."

The breeze swept across the field in a stunning crescendo, loosening petals from the flowers, allowing them to dance in the air over the girls' heads, creating a colored storm of nature that was beyond anything that Lucy could ever dream of. A few petals brushed against her cheeks, and she laughed as they tickled her exposed skin.

"You could say that."

And suddenly, Stella wasn't a stranger any longer, but a friend that Lucy would hope to keep for years to come.

Little did Lucy know that no amount of spring could prevent the leaves from meeting their faithful end, their death was inevitable in more ways than one.

Fate really was a cruel thing.


	5. Stolen Kisses, Seeing Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A strange and terrifying nightmare shakes Lucy up. The Fairy Tail games officially begin!

_Everything was too hot…everything was on fire._

_His veins burned and seared with the power of the torturous heat that dominated every tangible limb in his body, his brain telling him to roll on the ground and stop the raging flames that penetrated his skin from the inside. His lungs were shrinking, unable to take in the necessary oxygen to revive him back to homeostasis, his life trapped and halted as he screamed out in pain with what little breath he had left._

_The lush green grass was crushed beneath his knees, his weight pushing down on him as his body betrayed him so suddenly and so forcefully. Everything was dark, and yet his eyes were wide open, rolling into the back of his head as the pain increased by a tenfold, causing him to emit a bloodcurdling scream that he never knew he could ever produce._

_"Onii-chan!" a young female voice cried out to him, sending a jolt of intense fear through his heart as his little sister shed agonizing tears. "Stop hurting Onii-chan!"_

_"Now now, child." that horrid female voice spoke aloud with such false and sharp sweetness. "If you don't stay quiet I'll have to silence you myself."_

_No, he had to move damn it! He couldn't let whoever was after him kill his sister, he wouldn't allow it!_

_"Yui!" he screamed as he rode out another wave of agonizing pain. "Run! I want you to run away from here! Don't worry about me!"_

_Struggling against the force of his body, he forced his eyes to focus on his sister a few feet away, his blurred vision slowly correcting itself as his sight returned._

_Yui was kneeling on the ground like he was, her blue eyes stained a bloodshot red as tears poured from her eyes like waterfalls. Her cocoa brown hair spilled all down her shoulders in a tangled mess, the up-do that their mother had done on the girl that morning having been destroyed. A large cut spread across her porcelain pale skin, smearing blood on her cheek._

_"Onii-chan!" she sobbed once more._

_"I told you to run! Yui, ru-"_

_His command was cut off as his sister emitted a cry that resembled a wounded animal, a noise that shook him to the bone with an angered fury._

_He watched as the woman kicked his sister with her purple stiletto heel, grabbing her by the collar of her dress and pulling her up off of the ground in a flourish, bringing the child's tear streaked eyes up to meet her blazing green ones._

_"I never really liked children." she hissed with venom, and without warning, slammed the girl into the ground with a loud and deafening thud._

_The loud cracking of her skull upon impact was enough to drive him utterly insane._

_"YUI!" he screeched at the woman. "YOU BITCH! I'LL-"_

_He froze when she placed a perfectly manicured finger right in between his eyes, halting his tongue as he looked up into her cold eyes, her face shrouded in a black and blurred shadow underneath her curly blonde hair. When she narrowed her eyes in what seemed to be disappointment, he'd lost his entire ability to speak._

_Her rose perfume was nearly intoxicating._

_"Tch. Lackluster." she said rolling her eyes. "A complete waste of my time."_

_His tears made an appearance for the last time, spilling from his eyes and falling onto the ground with the rhythm of his blood from the deep gash in his arm._

_"You can go to your pathetic sister now." she told him, speaking as if it were the simplest solution to the world's problems._

_The shimmering silver she held between her middle and index fingers was enough for him to realize his fate._

_"Please-"_

_A quick swipe… a bright flash of red…_

_And everything went dark._

o-o-o

A loud and frantic scream escaped Lucy's lips as she shot up in her bed, her chocolate eyes widening in fear as she struggled to catch her breath. Sweat dripping down her temples and her arms, Lucy's entire body began to shake as her eyes darted nervously around the sugary pink walls of her apartment, slowly realizing that she was in her bed and in Magnolia, and not in some grass field witnessing the death of a small girl with bright blue eyes.

Those eyes…she couldn't get those frightened eyes out of her head…

Slowly, Lucy brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly, burying her face into them as she inhaled and exhaled deeply.

What in the hell had she dreamed?

Lucy'd had her fair share of strange dreams in her lifetime, but nightmares? Almost slim to none. The last time that she had a really strange nightmare was when she was five years old, where she'd dreamt that she was being chased by a flock of pink flamingos. It didn't seem all that terrifying looking back on it, but at the time it was the worst possible thing that could've ever happened to her. Though, her fear of flamingos was quickly extinguished when her father bought her a flamingo stuffed animal that she'd named Hugo. Needless to say, Hugo had been present for every tea party that Lucy ever hosted.

But this dream? This was on a whole other level.

Dreams weren't supposed to shake you to your core and take away your breath so forcibly. Not even the worst nightmare should make a person's lungs ache and their hearts drumming with pain.

Dreams weren't supposed to feel so…real.

She could still feel the excruciating fire that ate away at her limbs, she could feel the pain echoing and throbbing throughout her body as she was immobile on the ground, helpless and blind. Or was it even her body? She heard a male voice speaking, and yet it was her who felt the all the pain…all the suffering.

And that woman…

She could still see her blazing green eyes and platinum blonde hair. She could vividly see those purple stiletto heels.

And that rose scented perfume…it was suffocating.

Sighing into her sheets, Lucy's eyes travelled over to her bedside table, her eyes immediately landing on the aqua mug that sat innocently atop a crocheted coaster. Inside was the remainder of the peppermint hot cocoa she'd brewed up the night before, making sure to add mountains of whipped cream to the hot drink.

Lucy glared at the mug. "This is all your fault." she spoke to the liquid in the cup, vowing silently to never drink that much sugar before bedtime ever again. Whoever said that sugar brought on nightmares had proved his or her point completely.

Giving herself another minute to get a hold of her breathing, Lucy stretched out her arms and sighed in content, her frown soon turning into a smile once she realized what day it was.

The day of the games, the day that the girls would become victorious with their perfect plan.

Glancing at the clock, Lucy realized that she only had two hours before she was supposed to meet up with everyone at the guild. Perfect, that gave her enough time to shower and put on some makeup so that she'd look a little more alive. All she needed was some foundation and a bit of concealer, and her look would be complete.

Just as Lucy was about to push back her blankets and hop out of her bed, a small bump at the end of her bed suddenly caught Lucy's attention, and she frowned when it began to move around, almost as if it were struggling.

When low pitched muffling sounds could be heard from beneath her blankets, Lucy slowly lifted up her sheets and quilt. She felt a pair of small paws touch her right leg, and instead of flipping out and kicking whatever had touched her, she just watched in confusion as a familiar white head poked out from under her sheets.

"Plue?" Lucy frowned, staring at the little dog as his entire body shook lightly. "What are you doing here?"

"Pun Pun!"

o-o-o

The crisp early air stung Lucy's cheeks as she made her way towards the guild hall, tugging at the red cloth hair tie wrapped above her ponytail to make sure that it was secure. As she did so, she glanced to her left to spy on her reflection in the water, and for such an early start to her day, she had to admit that she looked pretty good.

Her red t-shirt hung loose on her torso, yet it fit her enough so that it wouldn't get in her way if she needed to run or fight. Her gray spandex shorts, however, fit her perfectly, as they were extremely comfortable and one of Lucy's favorites. Ditching her usual flats or sandals for combat boots, the blonde found it much easier to balance along the edge of the river wearing the boots.

Although she had been pumped about the game when she left her home, her smile slowly turned into a thoughtful frown as she thought back to a few hours earlier.

Just how had Plue ended up in her bed? Had she summoned him in her sleep? It seemed very unlikely, but it was the most logical solution. After all, it wasn't like she'd summoned him before she went to bed, she would've remembered that. It just seemed so strange, though she was lucky that it didn't take too much magic energy to summon the little dog.

"Lu-chan!"

Lucy broke out of her private thoughts immediately as her name was called, and she glanced away from her reflection in the water towards the direction of the voice she'd heard. She smiled when she saw Levy a few feet away from her, waving at Lucy while Wendy stood next to the solid script mage looking chipper, Charle standing calmly next to her partner on the ground. They were all wearing similar outfits: a red t-shirt, shorts, and shoes that would be easy to move in.

Lucy would have to think about Plue another time.

"Levy-chan! Wendy!" Lucy greeted her friends cheerfully, jogging up to them. "How are you guys? Are you ready?!"

"You bet!" Wendy said happily, holding up her small fist. "We're gonna win this thing!"

"I agree." another voice joined in, and Lucy had recognized it immediately.

"Morning, Erza!" Levy greeted the red head, nodding at Erza's red t-shirt. "Loving the outfit."

Erza nodded in approval at Levy's comment, pinching the fabric of her shirt in-between her fingers. "These outfits will work out nicely for our plan, don't you think?"

"Juvia agrees!" the water mage's voice suddenly rang out cheerfully as she trotted up to Lucy and lightly bumped hips with her. "Juvia thinks that red is most definitely her color!"

Lucy giggled at Juvia's excitement, nudging her friend right back. "We all look great." she said, her eyes sweeping over the girls present. "I'm glad we decided to wear matching outfits, especially going with red."

"Are you guys sure that the red isn't too flashy?" Wendy asked them, looking down at her own shirt. "Dragon slayers' eyes are very sensitive to bright colors like red."

"It's a chance we'll have to take." Erza told Wendy. "Besides, the flag has to be visible, but the rules never said anything about wearing red." she winked. "It's just a small loophole."

"Our entire strategy involves loopholes." Lucy said wryly.

"But that's what makes it so brilliant!" Levy cheered, receiving approving looks from the rest of the girls.

Lucy nodded in agreement. "It sure does. Oh, and by the way, are you sure that Laki and Kinana are okay with their part of the plan?"

Erza nodded. "They are, and they're completely on board with it. Kinana shouldn't do much running with her bad ankle anyway, and Laki is more than happy to partake in this strategy. After all, Kinana was the one who suggested it in the first place. She told me that she wants to see the boys' faces in person when they realize what's happened."

"To be honest, I want to see it too." Charle smirked. "Especially that Tomcat…"

Lucy nodded in agreement. She couldn't wait for the game to get started, and when it begun, she'd hide so well that not even the best of noses could track her down. This was where all of the training that she'd done over the past year would come in handy. And she'd be damned if she let her team down.

Just before turning to leave with the other girls to enter the guild, Lucy turned to her left and glanced at her confident reflection in the rippling water, her chocolate eyes blazing with confidence.

She tipped her head up towards the sky, and inhaled deeply.

_Bring it on, Natsu._

o-o-o

"Ne, Natsu?" Happy's voice asked the dragon slayer, tapping his right shoulder with his paws as he flew alongside Natsu while making their way towards the guild.

"What is it, Happy?" Natsu asked the exceed, turning his attention towards his blue furry friend as Happy perched himself on Natsu's shoulder, allowing his wings to disappear with a sparkling whoosh.

Autumn was definitely on its way in Magnolia, as if it weren't evident from the air that felt more crisp than usual, not that it bothered Natsu in the least bit since he never got cold. He could smell the budding fruits on the apple trees and pumpkin patches as the wind blew into his face and pink hair.

But, he enjoyed autumn, regardless that the sun wouldn't beat down upon his tanned skin like it did in the summer. The best fires ignited in the fireplaces were made in autumn and winter, and the fire from Lucy's fireplace always tasted especially good, almost like marshmallows.

"Are you sure that our strategy will work?" Happy asked him, frowning. "We don't know what the girls have planned, and we don't even know who has the flag."

"Well, we'll just have to hunt her down and find her!" Natsu exclaimed, pumping his fist up in the air, confidence permeating the area around him like fog. "Piece of cake!"

The blue exceed chuckled. "Cake?Is that our tactic to lure Erza out?" Happy asked him excitedly as he leapt off of Natsu's shoulder, activating his wings once more.

"You bet, little buddy!" Natsu exclaimed, closing his eyes in glee as he imagined capturing Erza by himself, watching her gleeful face turn into a disappointed one as she was captured, the promise of strawberry cake falling short.

Then again, just how badly would he be beaten by the requip mage? Natsu didn't even want to think about it.

The guild was just up ahead, standing tall and proud in the early morning sunlight, the pale autumn sun casting its light upon Fairy Tail's glistening insignia. Not to Natsu's surprise, the front doors were wide open, and if Natsu focused enough he could see the silhouettes of his teammates for the day, not that they weren't always his nakama. He began to grin as he pictured his team reaching their victory, giggling to himself as he imagined the cheers and echoes of victory to the males.

Yes, victory would be amazing.

But then…

"Natsu?" Happy asked him again, lightly tapping his shoulder once more as his big eyes examined Natsu's.

Natsu bit down on the inside of his cheek. The exceed always seemed to know when something was bugging him, not that he'd ever bother Happy with such a trivial thought.

Natsu turned his attention towards Happy and quickly ruffled the fur on his head, grinning at the cat like he always had before a big mission or game.

He'd have to think about it later.

"It's nothing, now come on!" Natsu exclaimed as he took off running towards the guild entrance, the sounds of laughter and chatter flooding his ears. "Let's win this!"

"Aye!"

o-o-o

"You better be focused today, Flame Brain." Gray nudged Natsu with his elbow as he took a bite of turkey bacon. "If we lose today I'm blaming you."

Scoffing, Natsu finished swallowing his piece of bacon before scowling at the ice mage. "Oh please, I'm always on top of my game. Besides,what makes you think that we're gonna lose today? Or maybe, you're just scared that you'll lose the game for us?" Natsu snickered, triggering a glaring reaction from Gray.

"Like hell I'll lose this game for us." he scoffed, swallowing his breakfast. "If anything, you'll just fuck something up and we'll get disqualified for stupidity." Gray rolled his eyes as Loke took a seat next to him, exchanging his usual black and white suit for shorts and a t-shirt. "Honestly, I don't know how Lucy tolerates you."

Natsu smirked before taking a swig of his root beer. "I could say the same to you. I'm surprised that Juvia hasn't gotten sick of your perverted stripping habits."

Natsu felt a wave of satisfaction spread across his body when a small blush creeped up onto Gray's pale skin as he turned away from Natsu and immediately put his cup of frosty root beer to his lips. "Shut up."

"It looks like you two could use some advice-"

"No!" Gray and Natsu exclaimed in unison as they busied themselves with more of Mira's breakfast food, regardless of the fact that the takeover mage was currently out concealing herself from the boys with the rest of the girls. They were twelve minutes into the grace period of hiding, and in just a few minutes, it would be time to go out and look for them.

Loke raised his palms in surrender. "Alright, alright. I won't say a word. Then again, I don't think that Gray here is having any trouble."

Gray frowned at the celestial spirit behind his cup as more of the guys began to sit down at the table and stack up their finished breakfast plates. "What in the hell's that supposed to mean?" he asked, raising the cup to his lips for the final time.

"Word in the guild is that you and Juvia have been getting a little…cozy."

The root beer that once travelled smoothly down his throat suddenly stopped its smooth track as Gray began to cough violently, trying desperately to swallow down the burning carbonated drink. He swiped his fist along his lips, dragging away the foamy soda that leaked out in the corners of his mouth. He turned to a smug Loke with narrowed eyes.

"What are you-"

Loke shrugged. "Maybe it's because I'm spending too much time reading Lucy's dating magazines, but I can tell just by looking at you two. Something's changed, hasn't it?"

Gray opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out.

Natsu's undivided attention was on the scene before him, laughing to himself with glee as Gray sat in the bright spotlight. He certainly was enjoying this way too much, and he nodded in approval as he finished the last bite of his bacon. After all of the comments Gray had made about him and Lucy over the past few months, Natsu was ready to watch the guy fall to the power of mentioning Juvia. Oh, karma was sweet indeed.

Then again, Natsu wasn't an idiot. He knew exactly what was going on.

He noticed their strange behavior before anyone else had, then again it had been Lucy who pointed it out in the first place, so she had most of the credit. It started very quietly, mostly with slight hand touches and lingering eyes, but there was always something more that seemed to bug him.

 _"What, you can't see it?"_ Lucy had asked him one day, her voice haughty and drenched in mockery. "Boys really are blind."

She may have mocked his pristine sense of vision, but there was no way that she could mock his sense of smell.

Each time the water mage would launch herself into him, or even brush up against Gray, Natsu's nose instantly picked up the strange transition. Gray's scent changed dramatically in the past few months, and it was always when Juvia was around. Why? He couldn't figure it out, but it was enough to take note of.

And by Mavis, his nose was top notch.

"Alright, everybody!" Makarov's voice boomed out in the guild hall. "One more minute till the game starts!"

A chorus of shouts and cheers echoed throughout the halls as the boys rose out of their seats and abandoned their mugs of root beer, pumping their fists up into the air as they headed towards the main entrance of the guild.

"Natsu-nii!"

Natsu's ears immediately picked up on the familiar male voice, and he grinned as he glanced to his right to see Romeo standing next to him, the small fire mage holding something in his hand.

"'Sup, Romeo!' Natsu said, grinning as he playfully ruffled up the young teen's black hair. Romeo grinned back at him, though quickly exchanged his expression for a confused one as he held out his hand to Natsu.

"Natsu-nii, look what I found." Romeo said, opening his hand to reveal a small purple perfume bottle that glistened under the guild's artificial lightbulbs. It came with something big and puffy attached to it, and after being in Lucy's apartment for so long—she called it snooping around in her stuff, but whatever—Natsu recognized it as that _"weird thing that you squeeze so perfume sprays out",_ or at least that's what he called it.

"I found a whole bunch of them in the garbage. Pretty weird huh?" Romeo frowned, shaking his head.

"Lemme see that." Gray suddenly said, peering over Natsu's shoulder and grabbing it without asking, bringing the bottle close to his face to examine it.

Natsu glared over his shoulder. "Did I say you could take it?"

"No. But you never said I couldn't." Gray said pointedly, never taking his eyes off of the bottle. "So? It's a perfume bottle. Girls wear perfume don't they?"

Romeo frowned. "Well…yeah but-"

"But do ya really think they'd be that stupid as to wear the stuff when they're tryin' to stay hidden?" Gajeel joined in, swiping the bottle from Gray's grasp and examining it, though he quickly lost interest as he tossed the bottle back to Natsu. "They know we have noses, right?"

"That's strange, since my wife isn't a huge fan of perfume." Alzack piped up, frowning at the bottle.

Natsu focused his eyes on the bottle in his palm, allowing his thoughts to register.

Lucy owned probably about thousands of perfume and lotion bottles, as they were displayed out on her bathroom sink for anyone to see. In fact, Natsu had even been guilty of examining the bottles one by one, reading the labels and trying to figure out exactly what aloe and shea butter were. She used these lotions and sprays religiously, and he could even smell her lotion before she walked into the guild. In basic terms, Lucy was a girl in every sense.

But, when it came to dangerous jobs or hunting down a criminal, Lucy didn't play around. Natsu would never smell a single drop of perfume or lotion on her skin, and she'd even tie up her hair tightly to avoid the blonde strands from flowing into her eyes or having a gust of wind making the air smell like her strawberry shampoo.

Natsu highly doubted that this little game would be any different than hiding from an assassin. If Lucy didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be. She'd make it almost impossible to be found. In other words, Natsu wouldn't find Lucy without the needed effort.

But then, that's what he liked about her.

"But that's the thing." Romeo continued, unscrewing the top of a second perfume bottle and bringing it up to his nose. "I can't smell anything in here. Even an empty perfume bottle should leave some scent behind, right? It's like these were filled with water or something."

"But why would they spray themselves with water?" Gray asked as Natsu brought his bottle up to his nose to find that he couldn't smell anything either, which bugged him immensely. "Girls are strange."

"Alright, everybody. You all remember the rules you've received, correct?" Makarov's voice boomed brightly throughout the halls, finally securing the attentions of the guys who were pondering over empty perfume bottles. "I don't want any rule breaking, you hear me?"

A chorus of agreement flowed through the crowd as Makarov nodded.

"By now, your female guild mates have dispersed themselves all throughout Magnolia, and with most of the townspeople gone, you should have a good chance of finding them easily. Though, you all know that your objective is to capture the flag from the girl who's keeping it, so if you happen to find a girl but don't see the flag, I recommend you move on, but that's just me. Remember, the flag will be visible on the girl who has the flag, so be on the lookout! Even I don't know who has it.

"Oh, and I almost forgot." Makarov continued, smirking slyly to himself as the males shot him confused and suspicious stares. "There's a new rule that I've put into play."

Natsu frowned at the guild master, watching as the other males began to mutter and whisper things to one another with questioning looks on their faces. A new rule? What kind of rule could the mater have put into play? Or had it been the girls to suggest it?

"Well?" Laxus asked his grandfather rather loudly. "What's this new rule of yours?"

The Master grinned haughtily. "You'll have to figure it out for yourselves."

"Tsk. Typical." Gray grunted to himself, quickly exchanging his annoyed expression to that of a smug one. "Should be easy to figure out. It won't matter anyway, cause we're gonna win!"

A chorus of shouts accompanied Gray's proclamation, and Natsu found himself easily joining in on the excitement, grinning brightly at the thought of claiming victory for the males. At the moment, nothing sounded better.

o-o-o

A few seconds later, the boys burst through the front doors of the guild, whooping and cheering with such enthusiasm that it had the power to rally the dead. Testosterone fuming and fire rushing through their veins, they were ready for anything.

Anything, except for what they ran into when they first rushed through the doors.

The excited crowd of boys instantly halted their movements as all pairs of their eyes landed on the two figures standing calmly before them, almost as if they didn't have a single care in the world, and Natsu supposed that they didn't.

His emerald eyes blinked in confusion as the two girls glanced at the boys with innocent eyes, batting their eyelashes and smiling brightly. They were both wearing red t-shirts and shorts, and Natsu was slightly surprised that with the amount of skin the girls were exposing, they weren't in the least bit chilled.

"Kinana?" Gray asked aloud as he frowned at the purple haired girl.

"And Laki?" Alzack asked as said female shot him a bright smile.

"Hey boys!" Laki said brightly, waving at them with enthusiasm as she tilted her head to the side, her long lilac ponytail falling over her right shoulder. "How's it going?"

A wave of confused silence swept over the crowd of males as the two girls heightened their smiles and stepped closer to the males.

Only a few more seconds passed before the testosterone kicked in.

"You guys…you're…supposed to be hiding…from us…" Gray said slowly to them, as if they were small children who didn't understand the concept of a simple task.

Kinana nodded. "Yup, that's correct."

Kinana's response seemed to deepen the confusion as she stepped closer to Jet, who was eyeing her suspiciously.

"Well you see," Kinana began plainly. "I hurt my ankle on a job last week, and I thought that it would have been healed by now, but it's still giving me some trouble." she said, looking down at her right ankle, to which Natsu's eyes immediately landed on the cream colored bandages wrapped around her creamy skin. "I thought that it would be better by now." she sighed aloud.

"And I haven't eaten anything in the past sixteen hours—a new diet I'm trying!" Laki said suddenly as she received a pair of horrified eyes from Droy, raising her hands up in defense. "I skipped dinner and breakfast, but now I'm feeling too dizzy to participate."

Natsu looked at each of the girls with confusion swimming in his eyes, and scratched the back of his head. He certainly didn't expect to find any of the girls this early on in the game, but to find two of them? And to find out that they were giving up that early on? Something felt strange…too out of place.

"W-Well if your ankle is bothering you, then let's get you inside." Jet said nervously, gesturing for Kinana to follow him back inside of the guild. Kinana saw this, and without skipping a beat, she flaunted right over to Jet and looked him straight in the eye.

"Thank you, you're too sweet!"

And she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

The reaction was instantaneous; red fire spreading all across Jet's face as his eyes widened to the size of his head, much like the eyes of the guys in the crowd as they spectated the scene. To say that Kinana's act was surprising would be a huge understatement. Kinana and Jet? And all so suddenly? Natsu was beyond confused. What in the hell was going on?

"Droy, thanks a bunch for understanding!"

Natsu's ears picked up Laki's voice, causing him to direct his attention away from a blushing Jet to a startled Droy, watching as Laki placed her pink lips atop of Droy's doughy face. A similar reaction of Jet's suddenly hit Droy as he spluttered out incoherently.

Natsu glanced over at Gray and Loke, who glanced right back at him with equally as confused faces. Girls really were confusing.

"Oi!" Laxus' voice boomed out suddenly. "We're wasting time! Tag 'em and let's go and find the others!"

It was as if the lighting user's words triggered a huge reaction, since suddenly the boys spread out and began to run outwards from the guild entrance, though not far enough to lose sight of all their members.

"A-Alrighty then." Jet said uncertainly as he tapped Kinana's shoulder. "I guess I have to search you-"

"Don't bother." Gray sighed as he glanced at Droy just as he tapped Laki's shoulder. "If these two are throwing in the towel this early, none of them would have the flag."

When Jet and Droy both blinked at Gray slowly, the ice mage sighed in annoyance as he waved them off. "Fine. Search 'em."

"Salamander." Gajeel's voice inquired, drawing away Natsu's attention yet again as the fire dragon slayer turned towards his cousin with questioning eyes. "We got a problem."

"Huh?" Natsu frowned. "What do ya mean?"

Gajeel stretched out his arm towards the town, his eyes narrowed in frustration as Natsu wondered what he could possibly be inquiring with that look.

"The girls are gone." he said.

Natsu raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms. "Yes, Gajeel. They are gone. You know, like they're supposed to be."

"That's not what I meant ya idiot!" Gajeel exclaimed, punching Natsu's arm with brute force.

"Oi! What in the hell was that for?!" Natsu exclaimed, grabbing a fistful of Gajeel's shirt in anger. "Ya don't have to punch me!"

"Well how else is anyone gonna knock some sense into ya?!" Gajeel exclaimed, grabbing Natsu's wrist and making him let go of his shirt. "I mean their scents! I can't smell 'em!"

Natsu narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean, it's not like their scents could disappear just like that. You know that."

"Then see for yourself." Gajeel grunted, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes.

Scoffing, Natsu raised his head up slightly and inhaled deeply, closing his eyes and analyzing what the air was telling him, opening his mouth slightly and letting the air settle on the tip of his tongue.

The scents of the evergreen trees and the dirt filled his nose, followed by the artificial chemicals placed in the fountains around town that turned the water its signature aquamarine color. The leftover wisps of old baked bread from the bakeries mixed in with the faintest scent of firewood. To top it all off, the fair scent of the rotting autumn leaves flourished through the air.

A deep pit began to form in his stomach as he opened his eyes suddenly, words stuck on his tongue as he failed to catch the scent that he'd spent months and months memorizing…

He couldn't smell them…he couldn't smell her…

"What the hell…" Natsu whispered.

"Believe me now?" Gajeel grunted. "I dunno how in the hell they pulled this off, but it worked. I can't smell Shorty or Bunny Girl anywhere."

"And now we know why."

Natsu and Gajeel turned around as Loke and Gray walked up to their teammates, their faces drenched with seriousness as Loke held out a familiar object in his palm. Gray glared out towards the town, clenching his own fists.

The infamous empty perfume bottle rested pristinely in the spirit's hand.

Natsu's eyes widened in shock and understanding. "The perfume bottles…"

"These bottles must have been filled with an odorless and an odor-masking perfume of some sort. I've never seen anything like it before, but it explains why you can't smell the girls. It was a smart move on their part." Loke said, frowning down at the glass orb in his palm. "They took your sense of smell into account.

"Juvia's body could absorb this with no problem." Gray stated, shaking his head. "I gotta hand it to them, it was a good plan."

The males all glanced at each other, and while they didn't show it, they knew that each of them were…in a word…pissed off.

And yet…scarily impressed.

Though, their small group discussion was soon disrupted by two voices shouting excitedly, whooping and cheering with victorious joy as the cheers became louder and louder.

"Hey guys! Look what I-"

"You'll never guess what I-"

And when the cheering stopped suddenly, everything was too quiet.

Natsu and the others turned towards the sources of the once so jolly cheers to see Jet and Droy staring at each other with widened eyes, shock permeating throughout the crisp air.

"Jet? Droy? What are you-" Natsu began, though halting his speech once his eyes landed on the color red.

Two sets of the color red.

Jet and Droy both had their arms stretched out towards each other, and in each of their hands was a red cloth, blowing with the breeze of the early morning.

Red cloths that matched the descriptions of the flags they were to acquire from one of the girls.

"Found…" the two males finished at the same time, looking at each other in a pathetic manner.

The commotion had attracted the attention of the others, and they had all made their way towards the scene, and when they noticed the two red pieces of cloth, nothing was spoken.

Nobody moved an inch, that is, until Natsu and Gray made their way over to Jet and Droy and took the pieces of red cloth from each of them, examining it in their hands.

"Why are there two of them?" Gray asked nobody in particular, frowning into the fabric harshly.

"W-Weren't we supposed to only look for one flag?" Romeo asked aloud, peering over at the cloth that Natsu held in his hand. "But there's two now?"

A small fit of giggles broke Natsu out of his concentration, and he and the rest of his team instantly looked towards Kinana and Laki, who had their hands over their mouths trying to mask their amused laughter.

"What in the hell are you two laughing about?" Gajeel asked the girls, frowning like he was the most densest person on Earthland.

The laughter from the girls increased, provoking confused stares and bubbling frustration at the fact that the guys weren't in on their inside joke.

"Well, come on. I like to laugh. Tell us." Freed urged them, stepping closer to the two laughing females.

A small rhythm of clapping allowed the girls to finally cease their laughter, and the population turned towards the source of the clapping.

"Master?" Natsu asked aloud once Makarov revealed himself to the crowd, walking over to the girls with a gleeful smile on his face. This only deepened the pit of confusion in Natsu's stomach. What in the hell could they be laughing about?

"Bravo, my dears, bravo." Makarov congratulated Kinana and Laki, nodding at them with respect as he turned to face the entire crowd that began to circle around the short elderly man.

"As of this moment, both teams have lost two members. Though, the teams are still fairly numbered, so get out there and start searching!"

Crickets chirped through the crowd as everyone shot the master confused faces.

That is, everyone except for Kinana and Laki.

Natsu examined their faces with suspicion. The girls looked too proud of themselves for some reason…

"I'm sorry master, but did you say that both teams have lost two members?" Freed inquired, putting his hand on his hip and looking to Bixslow with a quizzical eye, only to receive a frown in response.

"Yes Freed, that is correct." Makarov confirmed. "Not only have Laki and Kinana been disqualified, but Jet and Droy have as well, for falling victim to these ladies and the new rule in place."

"What?!" Jet and Droy both exclaimed in horror, rushing over to Makarov and falling onto their knees. "Why are we disqualified?!"

"Because we're smarter than you, that's why!" Laki stated, nodding her head and exchanging a gleeful look with Kinana, who giggled in response. "If I were you, I'd take a closer look at those flags."

"Wha?" Jet asked slowly, as Natsu and Gray exchanged a quick glance, nodding to each other before the two of them held up their red cloth and spread it out with both of their hands.

Their eyes widened when the cloth's blank space blinded them, the white guild mark that they'd been told about wasn't anywhere to be seen on the fabric.

"They're blank!" Gray said, his eyes widened as the others hurried behind Gray and Natsu to see the mishap for themselves.

"What in the hell gramps?!" Laxus exclaimed, looking to his grandfather for an answer. "What's the meaning of this?!"

The girls' laughter rang out once more, only louder and more open, as they neglected to cover their mouths and instead decided to hold onto their stomachs as they rode out their glee in the open.

"Would somebody please tell me why they won't stop laughing? It's giving me a headache." Loke said, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

"Well, I must say that you girls have thought of everything. Color me impressed." Makarov told Kinana and Laki, who smiled down at their master gleefully. "Who knew that a kiss on the cheek could be used for sport, eh?"

Natsu's eyes flew towards the master. "What? A kiss on the…"

Suddenly, everything made sense.

Natsu's eyes grew wide when he finally realized the new rules of the game, the rules that would now come in between them, and the victory that they craved. And it was soon evident that Natsu wasn't the only one to decipher the code.

"Jet and Droy are disqualified because Kinana and Laki kissed them?" Loke asked aloud, receiving a smirk from Laki.

"We thought that it wouldn't be fair if one girl was left facing fourteen guys. So, we just made the game a little more even…and interesting, if I might add." Laki told him, winking at the boys.

"So…you're not on a diet?" Droy asked Laki, who raised her eyebrows in response, pulling out a granola bar from her pocket and unwrapping it.

"Not in a million years." Laki told him, biting into her granola.

"But…we tagged them." Jet said, pointing towards Kinana.

"But we kissed you first, so it doesn't count!" Kinana said gleefully.

"And might I remind you that you're wasting precious sunlight?" Laki said, smiling mischievously. "Not that you'll find the flag before sundown. You might as well just give up now."

"Oh really?" Gray scoffed. "And what makes you say that?"

A loud _whooshing_ melody suddenly erupted in the air, creating the need for Natsu's ears to tune into the strange noise immediately, seeing that he'd been the first to register the presence of the noise. It grew in a fluid crescendo, and before he could open his mouth to mention its presence, it was too late.

The final form of the strange noise came as a loud splashing boom, and everyone immediately turned towards the source of the new disturbance.

And its target? The back of Gray's head.

Everyone watched as a stunned Gray stood before them suddenly dripping wet from head to toe, his hair matted and shining with dripping liquid. Mini streams of the water spilled down the sides of his face, pooling into the space between his lips and gathering in large droplets on his eyebrows. His once dry shirt now stuck to his chest, revealing the toned muscles that he'd concealed underneath.

The silence was soon broken by Natsu's mocking laughter, pointing a tanned finger towards Gray while he held his stomach with his free arm. Two strikes on Gray in a row? On the same day? He'd have to enter the lottery with the luck he was having.

"AHAHAHAHA! You totally deserved that one! Oh, Mavis! This is the best day ever!" Natsu cackled, throwing his head back and releasing his loud proclamation of joy at the embarrassment of Gray Fullbuster.

"Shut the fuck up, Flame-Douche." Gray growled, turning his head around rapidly with an icy expression. "Who in the hell-"

The light laughter of a female cut Gray's question off, ringing in the air as Gray's body spun around to attempt to find the source of the laughter.

Natsu watched as his eyes landed on something in the distance, and his angered look melted into one of astonishment. Natsu followed his gaze, and once he saw who Gray had seen, his lips spread into a smile.

He should've known.

The elegant fountain stood a few feet away from the guild entrance; a gift from Blue Pegasus for assisting them in a difficult job a few months back. A fairy carved from marble stood in the middle of the fountain, the water sprouting from her cupped hands and spilling down across her ankles and knees, her face forever bright and smiling.

Juvia stood alongside the fairy, resting her right hip against the sculpture with her ankles submerged in the water, her arms crossed beneath her chest. Her hair spilled down her shoulders in blue waterfalls, even as her locks were tied up in a loose ponytail. Her blue eyes shimmered in mischief, her pink glossed lips curled up into a coy smile as small droplets of water swirled in the air around her, doing their dance of guilty mockery.

"Juvia agrees with Laki-san." Juvia spoke aloud, her eyes sweeping across Natsu's team as she uncrossed her arms and placed her hand on her jutted hip. "The boys must…open their eyes."

Natsu's eyes travelled down to Juvia's hip out of directed instinct, and suddenly, Natsu's amused eyes were replaced with mistrusting ones.

"Oi, Juvi!" Gajeel exclaimed, throwing out his arm suddenly and pointing at Juvia's hip. "What in the hell is this?!"

Gajeel's remark drew everyone's eyes to Juvia's hip, or rather, what was tucked neatly into her black spandex shorts.

A red piece of cloth, rolled up and waiting to be grabbed.

Natsu looked down at the red cloth he held in his hands, then looked back at the cloth that Juvia possessed. Both fabrics were the same shade, and they looked to be the same size as well. Both matched the description of the flag they were to track down.

Natsu narrowed his eyes at the water mage, and once she picked up his irked expression, she shot him a satisfied smile as she took her hand off of her hip.

With another quick smile and a flirtatious wink, Juvia's eyes flitted to Gray's.

"You'll have to catch us to find out. _All of us."_

In just a flash, they watched as Juvia's body turned to liquid, flowing down into the fountain with the water that pooled around the fairy statue's feet. Her giggling could be heard after she'd disappeared, which was enough to trigger a reaction.

"Damn it, Juvia!" Gray suddenly exclaimed, tugging onto his shirt and pulling it over his head in a hurried manner, throwing the sopping garment down to the ground in a sloppy flourish and sprinting away from the rest of the group, running past the fountain that Juvia disappeared into. "Get back here!"

"Oi, Fullbuster!" Laxus shouted. "Are you blind?! She's in the damn fountain!"

"No she isn't!" Gray exclaimed, turning his head to answer Laxus as he continued to sprint forwards. "I'll explain later! We're wasting time! Just start looking for the girls!"

Natsu's eyes refused to move from the spot in which Juvia had been just seconds ago, the pieces slowly fitting together in his mind, and once they clicked together, their strategy was as clear as day.

"Huh, not bad." Natsu said aloud, catching the attention of his remaining teammates as he crossed his muscular arms atop his chest. "Not that I expected any less from them."

"Natsu-nii?" Romeo asked Natsu, frowning up at the dragon slayer. "What is it?"

Natsu looked down at Romeo, frowning. "You mean you didn't see it?"

A few seconds after Gray disappeared, another voice added to the mockery of the boys' team, only this time, it came from a rooftop.

"He's right you know!" Mira's voice chimed out brightly.

Everyone's eyes shot upwards to see Mira and Lisanna standing up on a tiered roof of the guildhall, pressing their backs up against each other with their arms crossed, looking pretty pleased with themselves.

And what a surprise to see that each of them had red flags attached to their hips.

"Come and get us!" Lisanna mocked as her body began to glow. Small cat ears sprouted from her head, as did a tail from her back, her hands morphing into giant paws. Mira, on the other hand, took on her infamous satan soul appearance, her wings growing out from her back and her curves becoming more accentuated and revealing.

"Lisanna! Ne-chan! You're gonna fall! Get down!" Elfman yelled, his eyes wide, scared for his sisters.

Lisanna winked in response. "Sorry Elf-nii! You'll have to make me!" She exclaimed as she suddenly hopped off of the guild roof and landed safely on the ground, thanks to her acquired cat reflexes. She took off running, laughing freely as she did so.

"Come back, Lisanna!" Elfman yelled, taking off after his sister in a flash. "Real men don't let their sisters outrun them!"

"We'll assist you!" Freed called out, looking to Bixslow, who nodded in approval. "Let's go!"

"Guys!" Romeo exclaimed, looking to Natsu for help. "What about our plan?! We were gonna stay close, not divide and conquer!"

"Mira!" Laxus boomed, taking off after the white-haired mage. "Get down here so I can tag you, damn it!"

The thunder dragon slayer vanished quickly, chasing after the others as Mira spread her wings and flew off in the same direction that Lisanna took.

Their team was shrinking quickly, which was undoubtedly part of the girls' plan. It seemed that they'd thought of everything, which was frustrating to no end. Even Alzack had run off, seeming to have spotted his wife through the chaos.

A quick rustling of leaves brought Natsu's ears to life, and he immediately saw a flash of familiar long blue hair streak by, the wind carrying her as if she weighed nothing at all.

"Oh no you don't! Natsu exclaimed, taking off and rushing towards the flash of blue, his eyes immediately zooming into the red flag tied onto her hip. Her big brown eyes met his briefly, and he smirked when they widened.

"Gajeel! The flag!" Natsu exclaimed, never taking his eyes off of the swift girl, watching as her surprised expression sharpened into a confident one, fire burning in her irises as she accepted the challenge her cousins bestowed upon her. It wasn't like Natsu hadn't expected her to take on the challenge, he knew she would.

That's just how dragon slayers rolled.

"I gotcha!" Gajeel exclaimed, lunging towards Wendy, stretching out his hands to grab the flag. Natsu's eyes lit up as Gajeel's fingers were inches from touching Wendy's arm, but it seemed that she had another idea. At the last second, Wendy spun on her toes, bending her body out of the way from Gajeel's grasp and leaping into the air, briefly landing atop of Gajeel's shoulder, earning a grunt from the muscular mage before pushing off of him to launch herself in the sky to be caught by Charle, who had taken on her human appearance. She smirked down at the boys as she wrapped her arms around Wendy's torso.

"Oi! Get back here!" Gajeel exclaimed, raising his fist up towards Wendy, who just smiled sheepishly at him.

"Sorry Gajeel-san! Maybe next time!" Wendy yelled brightly, flying away towards town and away from their grasp.

Natsu shook his head with a frown on his face. He knew Wendy's agility and speed was at a high level, but to even dodge Gajeel? He was impressed, to say the least. He placed his hand on Romeo's head, who looked up at him with expectant eyes.

"Go get her. We need all the help we can get." Natsu told him.

Romeo looked uncertain at first, but that uncertainty soon changed into confidence, nodding as he took off after the female dragon slayer.

The remaining males were hesitant, waiting to see if any more of the girls would show their faces and taunt them, but after a few seconds of silence, it seemed that the rest of the girls had already hidden themselves enough to remain out of sight. For now.

"So, now we know part of their plan." Loke noted, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "If I was impressed before, consider me shocked now."

The others nodded in agreement, each of them speaking up.

"So lemme get this straight." Gajeel said, crossing his arms. "From what we've seen, each of 'em are wearing red to make the flag's visibility harder for us, and they each have a red flag on 'em, but they'll all be blank except for one."

"And we have to find the flag with the Fairy Tail stamp on it." Loke added.

"But Natsu and Gajeel can't smell them." Happy chirped worriedly, frowning up at his pink haired partner. "It's gonna be a whole lot tougher to track everyone down, don't you think?"

"Have a little faith, buddy." Natsu grinned down at the feline, pointing to his ears. "I still got these. As long as they make noise, I'll find 'em! And knowing how clumsy Lucy is, this should be easy!"

"Aye!"

A nod of approval was heard from Makarov as he turned his back to the boys, meaning to make his way back into the guild. He glanced back at Natsu and the others, and shot them a grin.

"Good luck, gentleman! You've got some tough competition today!"

Gajeel grunted before turning in the opposite direction, Lily right on his heels. "You should remember who yer talkin' to, gramps."

"Oi! Where are you going?" Natsu asked his cousin, who turned back around to look at him like he were crazy for asking such a question.

"I'm goin' to look for them, where else would I be going?" He asked Natsu, rolling his eyes. "Besides, I got a pretty good idea of where Shorty could be, and Bunny Girl shouldn't be too much farther than that. Hurry up and haul ass, we're wasting daylight."

Natsu watched as Gajeel disappeared, cursing his cousin for being right. He had to get moving before the sun was gone, and he'd be damned if he couldn't win the game for his team. And the additional bragging rights couldn't hurt his ego either, not that he'd only brag because of a victory. He chose to do that on the daily.

"I suppose you'll be going after Lucy then?"

"Hm?" Natsu asked, turning towards the lion spirit, who was pretending to adjust the collar on his shirt.

"Oh, you know, since everyone else chased after their preferred targets, I'd assume that you'd go for Lucy. After all, she is your partner."

Natsu frowned at Loke, taking a second to point his finger towards Loke's chest. "You're her partner too, aren't ya?"

Loke raised his eyes to meet Natsu's, and his always charming and playful eyes were shimmering with something that Natsu couldn't identify.

"You know what I'm talking about."

Natsu continued to stare at the spirit until Loke sighed, walking over to Natsu and placing a steady hand on his warm shoulder. He stayed like that for a few more seconds before turning on his heels and steadily walking towards the fountain where Juvia once stood. "I'll leave Lucy to you."

Loke disappeared, and suddenly Natsu and Happy were left standing alone.

He ran over the events of a few seconds ago, Loke's words ringing through his ears as he pondered over them.

_"I'll leave Lucy to you."_

Natsu bit down on his lip as her smiling face swam into his thoughts, her chocolate eyes shining and her features bright, just how he liked her. He imagined her dressed similarly to the others, her apparel red and her hair tied up into a long pony tail, and he knew that she would have a red tie in her hair to match her shirt. She always had to match.

It was funny how well he knew her, and how much they've grown together…and now…

He knew that he was right, earlier back in the guild. And it seemed that the others were taking on the tactics that Natsu knew stemmed from his partner entirely.

Lucy and the others weren't going to be found if they didn't want to be found.

Like he'd let that stop him.

"Let's go, Happy." Natsu said, taking off with a flash as he felt Happy in the air right next to him, keeping up without complaint.

Natsu smiled to himself, the natural rush of the competition flowing through his veins like a drug, fueling every inch of his body as he ran towards town.

Bring it on, Lucy.

"Aye, Sir!"


	6. Catch Me If You Can

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls have the upper edge in the game, which frustrates their opponents. Natsu tries to get into his partner's head until he knows exactly where to find her.

"Half of the day is almost over, and we still haven't found all of the girls!" Bixslow grumbled incessantly as he crossed his arms over his chest, annoyance firmly formed on his face as his babies fluttered around his head, chanting _Girls! Girls!_

Freed shook his head and sighed disdainfully. "We still have time, and while we haven't found all of them, let's be thankful that we haven't encountered Erza yet."

The two men stopped in their tracks to shudder at the thought of encountering the red headed mage in all her glory, picturing the beating she'd give them if they even attempted to tag her. Out of the question.

"Yeah well, I wouldn't be too fond of finding some of the others either." Bixslow commented, looking off towards the stream of water that flowed freely between the paved pathways. "We've got some scary girls in our guild."

"What? Like who?" Freed questioned, all the while scanning his surroundings for any signs of his female guild-mates. While he certainly wouldn't admit aloud that he was getting frustrated, it began to show in his slower pace and the boredom seeping out in his voice. Mavis, he wished that somebody would just put him out of his misery-

"Lisanna!" Bixslow suddenly exclaimed, while Freed frowned at the cloud he was admiring.

"Lisanna? Sure she's incredibly talented, but scary? What are you-"

"No!" Bixslow exclaimed, cupping Freed's chin and earning a surprised grunt from the runes mage all the while turning his head to his left. "There! We got one!"

Both Men's eyes landed on Lisanna's bright blue eyes as she'd just leapt down from the roof of the bakery, at first completely unaware of their presence. It wasn't until a few seconds later that her eyes connected with theirs, and they widened immensely as she clutched onto a piece of red fabric tied to her hip.

"Now, Freed!" Bixslow exclaimed as he took off after the white-haired female.

"Right!" Freed exclaimed before summoning his magic to his aid, grinning when he felt his magic practically pour from his fingertips. He knelt down upon the ground, and with just a blink of an eye, he activated his runes.

A bright flash of light suddenly appeared before a startled Lisanna, who immediately skidded to a shaking halt as a transparent wall of clear light blocked her path with a sudden burst. Freed watched with amusement as her horrified face was reflected in the wall. Gritting her teeth, she turned around to face the smirking pair of boys.

"Nice play, I guess." she mockingly complimented her guild-mates, taking a fighting stance. "It still won't be enough to catch me though!"

"Oh? And where will you go?" Bixslow laughed, his babies bobbing in the air joyfully. _"Nowhere! Nowhere!"_ they chanted.

Yes, it was all over, they'd finally found someone to lower the girls' numbers in the game. Victory was sweet indeed.

And suddenly, the victorious feeling that the men held suddenly dropped into their stomachs as Lisanna abandoned her angry expression for an amused one, her eyes shimmering with mischief and relief.

Freed frowned at this, and glanced at Bixslow, who returned his questioning look.

All was answered when the path beneath their feet began to shake, and with one glance behind their backs, their eyes widened in horror.

o-o-o

The sky was ablaze with the oranges and golds of the impending sunset, wiping away the clear baby blue palette of day, signaling the close proximity to its end.

The guys had refused to abandon their energy or sense of purpose from the start of the game to the present moment, picking apart the town brick by brick in order to seek out their female guild-mates, in which they were only partially successful.

Alzack had managed to find Bisca rather easily, though his superb tracking skills weren't the only thing that helped him with his task. He'd taken the liberty of heading back to the guild to take his little Asuka out for a walk, who'd been kept under the watchful eyes of Kinana. The little girl had immediately run up to a cluster of trees and jumped up onto her hiding mother, who fell from behind the bark at the surprise force of her daughter.

_"I gotcha mama!"_ the toddler had yelled, completely proud of herself for her small accomplishment, to which she was rewarded with a cluster of playful kisses from both of her parents before her husband tagged her, ending her participation in the game.

But, not before she's managed to place her lips upon her husband's cheek, all with the help of her daughter, who wrapped her small arms around her daddy's neck, keeping him in his place.

_"Kiss him mama!"_

Needless to say, a kiss on the cheek soon evolved into a kiss on the lips.

A few hours later, Elfman had managed to track down his sisters with the help of the almost complete Raijinshu, cornering them behind a bakery in town that was famous for their blueberry scones. Much to the macho mage's dismay, Lisanna had slipped out of his grasp, thanks to her kitty instincts, and traded her claws for wings as she flew off and away from sight. After that fiasco, Elfman went with Freed and Bixslow to search for Evergreen.

Mira and Laxus were still missing.

Natsu ruffled his hair as he let out an annoyed sigh, glancing up at the failing sky with a frustrated glare. He thought that they'd have found the majority of the girls by this time, hell, he thought that he himself would've had a bunch of girls found and out of the game under his belt. Sure, during the strategy meeting with his teammates, a handful of them complimented the girls' strength—not to mention their beauty—and their seemingly phenomenal magical ability, even he himself knew this. Put them all together, and they could be a deadly bunch. Nobody knew that better than the men of Fairy Tail, and even the women themselves. And, regardless of the high ego of the men's team, they still searched for loopholes in the listed rules, since they knew that the girls would do the same, and that fact was confirmed once Juvia had revealed herself with a red flag similar to the ones Laki and Kinana held.

Back when he'd visited Lucy's apartment, Natsu had swiped a tank top that was draped over her vanity chair. Sure, Lucy would have called it cheating, but the rules never prohibited stealing the others' clothing, and if he so happened to use it to enhance his chances of picking up her scent, well, there was no harm in that. He hadn't counted on the use of scent blocking perfume however, so that plan was a bust.

They'd started by writing down the names of the girls who would be the toughest to track, following by where they'd most likely head to. Juvia had been a cinch to decode, they all knew without a doubt that she'd take cover in an area with water. Erza, for all they knew, would probably take the liberty of hiding out in a bakery and have a sweet or two while she waited to be discovered. Wendy would pick the highest elevated spot, and Levy…well…Natsu decided to leave her up to Gajeel. They all did.

And then there was Lucy…

Natsu couldn't count on his single hand the number of places he thought she would head for first. There was always the new shopping center that she adored, but with the employers gone, the stores wouldn't be open. So that was a complete bust. Option two would lead him to the hot springs, and while that establishment was closed, the wall was low enough to climb over. It was even easier with the help of an exceed, or even a celestial spirit. But that didn't seem right either...

Natsu closed his eyes and did his best to abandon his usual instinct of sniffing her out, and instead, tried to get into his partner's head. He knew that she wouldn't stay too close to the guild, but she wouldn't be too far from it either. She wouldn't be in any area without action. Knowing Lucy, she'd be close by one of her teammates…just in case something bad were to happen.

"Tell me again why we let Elfman go by himself?" A familiar voice grumbled suddenly as the sounds of heavy and sloshing footsteps filled Natsu's ears.

"Because he's got am obvious and impeccable crush on Ever, and he probably feels that it's his duty as a man to be the one to find her on his own…like he's forgotten that you and I have been with her longer." another voice replied dryly.

Frowning, he turned towards the source of the voices only to find two sopping wet members of his team, their faces grim and their arms shivering.

"Freed? Bixslow?" Happy chirped with concern as he perched himself upon Natsu's right shoulder. "Why're you all wet like that?"

Natsu shook his head in amusement. "I think that the two of you would be far more coordinated to avoid falling into the river like this, but hey, there's a first time for everything right?"

The two wet Fairy Tail members looked at Natsu as if he were utterly insane, and while Freed began to speak, he was brusquely interrupted by his sopping wet partner in crime.

"What in the hell?! We're not stupid enough to fall into the river!" Bixslow exclaimed, crossing his arms and nodding his head behind him. "The girls ambushed us at the last second. We almost caught Lisanna, then a big ol' wave stormed onto the path and swept us right into it! Then Lisanna turned herself into some sort of angelfish and disappeared into the water!"

"And that was after she'd kissed the two of us." Freed frowned as he squeezed the sleeve of his maroon coat, a plentiful amount of water dripping down onto the once dry ground. "Well, we've always known her to be very stealthy at evasion." he said as he rubbed a flushed portion of his cheek.

"But that can't be true!" Happy suddenly exclaimed, grabbing the attentions of Freed and Bixslow.

"You calling us liars, cat?" Bixslow snarled.

Happy shifted his position on Natsu's shoulder and held out one of his paws, moving it around in air circles to exaggerate his speech while Natsu watched him with a curious eye. "That river's made up of freshwater, and angelfish need saltwater to live. So she couldn't have been an angelfish." The exceed reported. "You better get your facts straight."

"Wow, Happy! You're so smart!" Natsu praised his partner as Happy placed his paws on his hips and nodded in satisfaction.

"I know my fish facts. I consider myself an S-class fish expert." the exceed said in an as-a-matter-of-fact voice, while Freed and Bixslow glanced at each other with dry expressions, which seemed to be the only dry thing about them at the moment.

"But anyway," Happy continued, dropping his smug appearance for one of interest. "A wave hit you?"

Something clicked together in Natsu's brain, and he began to smirk in approval. "You'd think that bastard would've found her by now, since he practically boasted about it all day yesterday. I gotta hand it to Juvia, she's pretty sharp."

"And slippery!" Happy chirped, nodding his head in approval. "Juvia's just cool like that!"

Well, now they had an idea of where Lisanna and Juvia were, though Natsu doubted that they'd stay there for long. Knowing Lisanna, she'd find a way out of that river in a discreet way, perhaps she'd change into some sort of bird that Natsu couldn't pronounce and fly away, or seek refuge inside one of the buildings. Either tactic was practical.

And Juvia, well, she basically blended into any body of water that she had access to, so Natsu doubted that she'd leave the water that soon. Then again, Gray seemed pretty eager on finding her himself, not that any of them were surprised.

"Oye, we haven't seen Juvia at all."

Something weird sank into Natsu's stomach as he directed his attention towards Bixslow, something that felt like a small twinge of confusion. He frowned at the mage, who had followed Freed in squeezing the water out of his sleeves.

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked him, crossing his arms.

"I mean exactly what I said." Bixslow growled as he shook out his arm. "We haven't seen her. She hasn't shown her face since this morning when she was in the fountain throwing water at her boyfriend."

Natsu let the boyfriend comment slide for the moment, saving later for Gray as he shook his head. "You're telling me that it wasn't Juvia?"

_"Wasn't her! Wasn't her!"_ Bixslow's babies chanted in the air insistently.

"Besides, we all know that once Juvia hits water, it's all over." Freed nodded to himself, wringing out his long green ponytail. "You won't be able to find her, let alone tag her. It's like trying to set fire underwater. Not possible."

Natsu shrugged skeptically as grinned, envisioning himself igniting his flames while submerged in the deepest ocean. While in the past, he may not have been able to accomplish this. But a solid year of intense training could result in some pretty serious flames, as Natsu had figured out once he'd accidentally evaporated an entire lake at the park one day. Needless to say, Lucy gave him complete and utter hell for it, and ended up refilling the entire lake by herself.

Natsu's grin suddenly dropped as he recalled the memory as clear as day, remembering the movement of her hands and the sparkling blue water that erupted from them, filling the empty void with liquid once again. He remembered watching in awe as the water level rose upwards and splashed onto the tips of the grassy shore, small waves rolling over green. She'd acquired a new outfit as well, substituting her skirt and blouse for her...what did she call it again?

"If ya ask me, that wave wasn't really Juvia's style." Bixslow pointed out. "Reminded me more of-"

"Hey! Natsu!" Freed exclaimed suddenly as the pink haired mage took off suddenly, sprinting away from Freed and Bixslow with Happy hot on his trail. "Where are you going?!" he yelled to him.

That's right, he thought to himself, lightly scolding himself for forgetting such an important piece to the puzzle. He wasn't the only one who'd gotten far more stronger over the past year. After all, the intensity of his flames grew immensely.

Who's to say that those waves couldn't have grown in size too?

Natsu looked over his shoulder for a brief moment, and flashed the pair a grin. "To finish this game!"


	7. (Frost)Bite Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gray's lost his edge against Juvia, and he's not exactly 'devastated' about it.

Gray's calm yet agitated eyes scanned the glassy surface of the water, the sinking sunlight tinting the liquid to a pale orange. Despite the fact that he knew that they were running out of time, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of nostalgia looking at the reflecting orange water, setting his heartbeat to a familiar throb as he thought back a few months prior to the moment he was currently in.

The only difference was, he couldn't see her.

His eyes scanned the cobblestone paths and buildings that adorned the center of town around the riverfront. At this time of day, everyone was usually out and about, walking down the paths talking about anything and everything, the scents of bread from the bakery enchanting the pedestrians and sending them into the lull of the evening.

However, laughter and the scents of pastries weren't present at that moment, and everything was still and bland.

Gray stared at his annoyed reflection.

Calm…everything about the water was all too calm.

He knew he was in the right place.

He scanned the water slowly and carefully, searching for the small yet barely visible signs of her presence. He'd been at this charade all day, and while Juvia was certainly giving him a run for his money, there was no way in hell he'd give up now.

Perhaps it was personal pride thing, regardless of the fact that he was on an entire team with his male guildmates, but he knew that it was never just the pure adrenaline of competition that drove him to his current location. It had to be pride, it couldn't be anything else.

He saw the way her eyes bore mischievously into his when she revealed herself to everyone in the fountain, he'd seen that look from her on multiple occasions, more than he'd like to admit to himself and the others. She wasn't playing around, she was ready for the game ahead. And he surely didn't doubt this.

Over the time that they'd spent living together, each of them had adapted to the other's habits and thought processes. They'd trained together, eaten meals together, and just drank up each other's company in silence. And in this time, Gray could honestly say that the two of them were in perfect sync with one another, so in sync that they could take down an enemy with just a quick glance at each other. Gray knew how Juvia moved, just as Juvia knew Gray's fighting style and gait.

Then there were the smaller details that would surely put him in the dog house with the rest of the boys if they ever found out he kept them to himself. He could just imagine the look on Natsu's face if he were to ever let it spill that Gray knew things about her that nobody else would care to find out, other than a significant other.

But Gray had decided that Natsu and the others didn't have to know that he knew that Juvia only wore her hair up in a ponytail on Fridays. They didn't have to know that her favorite ice cream flavor was strawberry, or that she would bite her lip while she was in deep thought. And they most definitely didn't have to know that her cheeks turned ballet-slipper pink when she was in a deep sleep.

The setting sun tinted the already orange water into a mocking scarlet shade, causing Gray to narrow his eyes in annoyance. He thought that by that point, he should've crossed paths with Juvia at least once, or at least get a solid clue as to where she would make a move. But no, she just had to make things difficult for him and test his patience and faith in his abilities. He'd last seen her standing so confidently in that fountain, and that was early in the morning.

Hours had gone by...and he'd been paying attention to the glassy surface of the water and its irregular movement for hours.

He let out another tsk as he glanced upwards at the grapefruit sky. He was running out of time.

He turned his back to the glassy water and closed his eyes, watching the floating orange stars dance across his dark eyelids as he pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes. He felt his brows furrow in slight frustration.

_Where the hell are you, huh?_

A small swish suddenly caught Grey's attention as his eyes flew open, chills running down his spine as he felt a familiar drop in temperature attack his skin. He slowly lowered his fingers from his face, and let his arm rest at his side for just a few seconds before the sound of accumulating water began to saturate the sound waves around the stream.

A smirk slowly began to form on his lips as the sound grew in a slow crescendo, filling his senses with adrenaline as he focused his eyes on the brick wall of the pizzeria building before him. He traced the lines and cracks of the red bricks until the sloshing of the liquid died suddenly, leaving the air still and chilled.

Gray inhaled the frosty air slowly, then released it all from his lungs with two spoken words.

"Found you."

Gray leapt towards the right and pressed his palms against the grassy patch along the riverfront, the dirt and blades of green molding to his rough hands as he pushed off of the ground, the scent of mud and chlorophyll filling his nose as a loud and violent splash filled the air.

He landed in a crouched position and barely had enough time to glance at the dripping wet wall before a familiar voice chimed out lightly.

"You've gotten better at dodging my attacks."

Gray's eyes were drawn to the voice like a magnet, because who else's voice would have this much of an effect on him? Well, other than Natsu's shrill declarations of fighting and asking Mira if the kitchen still had any more tabasco sauce that he liked to drench his breakfast in.

This was the voice that he'd woken up all those months of solitude and training, accompanied by glasses of orange juice and blueberry pancakes. This voice sang his praises when he'd perfected a new technique and the voice that mocked him when he'd slip up when trying to land an attack on an innocent tree.

His eyes met hers, and he couldn't help but shake his head and laugh smugly. "This was the first time that you've shown yourself since this morning. So yeah, I've had time to collect myself."

Her blue hair was still tied up in a ponytail, loose strands framing her face and getting slightly tangled in her long eyelashes. Her pink lips were curled into a mocking smile as she lowered her right arm from its forty-five degree angled attack position. The lower half of her body from her calves down was completely liquified, blending into the rest of the water like she was meant to be there, which of course she was.

His eyes were immediately drawn to the red piece of cloth tucked into the spandex shorts on her hip, mocking him with its bright red tint. He frowned as he realized that she had folded the cloth and tucked it in a way that would hide the guild crest from view, a perfect plan for the girls that would make it harder for the guys to just target one female by means of spotting the crest. No, this wouldn't be an easy game, and then again, none of them expected it to be easy.

She was smart to stay in the water. And Gray knew that once Juvia found a body of water, his odds of winning against her went down drastically. If he was going to get anywhere near that flag, he'd have to be smart about it.

Smart and slick, just like the ice creeping across the surface of the water slowly, just out of Juvia's peripheral vision. His eyes didn't linger on the frosting water for long, directing his attention back to Juvia. The last thing that he wanted to do was to give her any indication that he had already put a plan into motion. She may be a ditzy ball of energy on the daily, but when it came down to it, she knew how to fight her battles. She'd pick up on his averted look and discover his plan right away. His best bet was to talk to her and distract her, even though the orange-tinted water was getting darker..

It was in that moment that a pair of arms suddenly wrapped themselves around his neck from behind, startling him as he inhaled with a surprised gasp. Another pair of legs tangled with his as he felt a slight pressure on his ankles, a pair of feet resting against his skin as the body clung onto his back tightly, a waterfall of blue hair blinding his vision for only seconds before a small gust of wind cleared the locks away.

He stared into Juvia's calm eyes out in the water ahead of him, and his impressed smile put a small shimmer in her eyes.

"You've perfected it." he stated, more so than questioned.

She closed her eyes and smiled, dropping her intense aura just for a moment. "Juvia never stopped practicing."

Water clones...it was a topic that Juvia had been playing around with for the longest time, and a concept that she was determined to get right.

He'd watched her all those nights that year, nights that had started with days of endless training that consisted of jogs around the lake and friendly sparring that left the two of them breathless and on their backs in the dirt. At times, they would even fall asleep like that, and wake up to a sky filled with glittering constellations and unclaimed wishes.

She'd practice in the daylight while the strong sunshine poured onto her face, and her results would be far from perfect. More often than not, her attempts at creating a perfect copy of herself with water fell short of a few limbs, or they would just end up like giant blob-like shapes that resembled the gingerbread men cookies the bakery sold during Christmas.

Gray remembered laughing at her first failed attempts, telling Juvia that the blobs looked just like her and that they were basically twins, which would result in Juvia puffing up her cheeks and blushing in frustration as Gray was shot with a jet of water that left him soaked.

But that never stopped her.

He would watch silently from the shadows of the trees by the lake of their cabin as she waved her hands with a concentrated scowl on her face, biting her bottom lip as she struggled to command the water to bend and twist itself into her desired end result. He watched as the energy drained from her eyes as the water fell back into the lake with a pathetic splash, and he watched as she lightly slapped her cheeks to hype herself up for the task once more. This would last for hours upon hours, until fatigue finally captured the bluenette and Gray would have to step out of the shadows to carry her sleeping form back into the cabin and tuck her into bed. It wasn't that he resented this task, in fact it became a normality to his daily routine.

Normal and expected...except for that one night.

The night that the water was _especially warm…_

"You know this means that neither of us have won the game, right?" Juvia asked him suddenly, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder as she pointed to her double latched onto Grey's back. "While you may be touching her, she isn't actually Juvia. Which goes without saying that a kiss from her will not count either."

The clone on his back tightened her grip ever so slightly. He could feel the pressure of her surprisingly dense thighs around his, her arms cradling his neck and shoulder blades securely. As if to make a point, the Juvia clone pressed her cold lips to his cheek. He could feel her lips spread into a smile on his skin, sending an uncomfortable shiver down his spine, as if the cells of his skin could tell that this Juvia wasn't the real deal.

Gray nodded slowly. It only made sense that this was the case, and even if it weren't and the two of them had dignified that it was okay to tag a clone, it still wouldn't feel like true victory to any of them.

Plus, what fun would it be if they ended this game right that second? They'd only just reunited.

And despite the sunset, Gray felt a sense of heightened excitement rush through his veins as he flashed her a cocky grin.

They were just getting started.

"Agreed."

A startled gasp escaped Juvia's pink lips, and Gray maintained his proud smirk as her wide eyes glanced down at her legs, the liquified parts of her limbs frozen solid thanks to Gray's efforts. Complete and utter shock filled her facial features as she looked down at the trouble she'd gotten herself into thanks to him.

"After all, that wouldn't be fair now would it?" he asked her in amusement as she looked up to glare at him with icy eyes. He took relish in this look of hers, pride filling his features as his plan was a success.

Juvia tore her gaze away from Gray and bit down on her bottom lip as she exhaled slowly, her hair falling in front of her eyes. With a sudden shot of cold down Gray's back, he felt Juvia's clone disappear, her limbs reverting back to liquid as it poured down his back and trickled down his shoulders and neck. "No," she replied grimly "No it wouldn't."

Gray couldn't help but feel a sense of pride at realizing that he would soon score a point for his team. Deciding that he had wasted enough time, Gray stepped out onto the water, a soft crunch echoing in his ears as the water below his feet froze into a thick pad of frost that supported his weight. As he willed it to, the ice began to stretch out towards Juvia slowly.

His path to victory.

He moved forward, walking slowly towards his goal until something made him stop him in his tracks. He frowned as his footsteps slowly came to a halt, and before he could ask himself why, his eyes gave him the answer.

She began to struggle slightly, grunting softly in frustration as her thighs squeezed together in attempts to wiggle her way out of the ice, or to at least find some way to find a weak point in her icy prison. Her cheeks were flushed, the shade of a child's lips after they'd eaten a cherry popsicle. She placed her hands on her exposed thighs and pressed down, trying anything to break free. She threw her head back suddenly, exhaling as she glared down at her icy ankles.

Gray felt his mouth become dry, his muscles tensing up as he continued to watch her struggle, his eyes sweeping over every inch of her body as she fought for freedom. He watched drops of water race down her legs, their movement slowing the more he watched.

In every male's life, there came a time where they would be exposed to the infamous locker room talk, a series of hot shot proclamations and empty words about how tough they were or how many girls that they'd eaten up within the past week. Some considered it a right of passage, sharing their stories about sex and hookups and gossiping about who they'd like to do it with next. Even if they lied about their experiences, they just wanted to contribute to the conversation.

"Horny men are just as bad as gossiping teenage girls" Gray had once overheard Lucy say to Levy, watching as she had rolled her eyes at a group of lusty men that kept whistling at the two girls as they walked past them in town.

And he had to admit that she was right, especially after witnessing the kind of talk that went on in pubs and bars that they'd stop in during missions far away from Magnolia. Gray remembered one particular mission that he, Natsu, and Gajeel were sent on in which they had stopped at a hole-in-the-wall bar on the outskirts of Magnolia. There were a group of men sitting on the opposite side of the room, drunk out of their minds and slurring words of promiscuity and desired acts that they wished to perform on other females. It was the kind of talk that made Gray extremely uncomfortable, his fists curling into tight barricades as the ice in his drink frosted over his cup. Others just simply ignored it, letting the words roll off of their backs and paying no mind to them. Those were the lucky ones, the men who were immune to the triggering language of the male libido.

The slurring had continued, causing Natsu to glare into his cup as his grip began to heat the liquid inside, while Gajeel's cup had shattered in his grip.

When they finally returned to Fairy Tail, the three of them ignored the greetings they received and they all went their separate ways, Natsu walking right over to Lucy and wrapping her up him his arms and Gajeel scooping up a shocked Levy and holding her close.

Gray remembered Juvia's happy voice chiming out in the air as he approached her, only to hear her voice halt as soon as he pulled her up from her seat and buried his face in her hair.

It was the kind of talk that made them all sick to their stomachs, and it was that talk that began to plague Gray's mind as the present and past blurred itself together, the water around Juvia flashing from frosted water to the lilac bedsheets of a soft bed.

The thoughts began to plague him once more, thoughts that haunted him late at night with their tempting taste of lust. And while yes, he would categorize these thoughts as a lesser form of the drunken locker room talk, he still fought to keep them from entering his head despite their persistent badgering. They had worsened progressively over the past year, after all, living with her hadn't helped in the least bit.

According to the drunk men back in the bar, there were many different features to a woman that a man could declare his fancy towards. Some men enjoyed boobs, while others placed their infatuation on butts or other areas of the female body.

And as for Gray, he'd come to the realization that he was a legs kind of guy.

Because he began to imagine that the drops of water dripping down her legs were his fingers, sliding over her porcelain skin slowly and tantalizingly, travelling backwards and up past her thighs up into a place of no return. He imagined that her frustrated grunts became pleasurable ones, that she threw her head back with the utmost bliss of having his hands on her body and his lips leaving their mark on her neck. He imagined that he was the cause of every sound, hurried breath, and every moan that was released from her body…

Moans that he hadn't heard since...

"You're blushing."

Her voice immediately grabbed him by the chest harshly and dragged him back into the moment as she stared at him with confusion. Her hands were still pressed against her thighs, having ceased her attempts to escape to watch him carefully. Her brows furrowed together as she tried to piece together her observation.

_Shit_ Gray cursed silently as he pushed away his dirty thoughts and clenched his fists. He couldn't afford to get trapped in a wave of seduction.

"Wh-What?" he responded dumbly, silently cursing to himself once more.

Juvia pointed a finger at him. "Your face is blushed, Gray-sama." she narrowed her eyes at him, biting down on her bottom lip as if she were in deep thought, pressing her thighs closer together as her other hand rested steadily on her knee.

His response was smooth. "Heh," he grinned "I'm just getting excited to win this game."

Gray knew that Juvia wasn't stupid, as carefree as she usually acted around him and the others, he knew that the bluenette held a high level of intelligence to her that even Makarov had acknowledged. Gajeel himself had often told him and the others that Juvia wasn't as ditzy as she appeared to be, though he didn't have to be convinced of this for long.

So yes, he knew that she suspected something when she didn't immediately respond to him, continuing to stare him down with suspicion shimmering in her eyes like glitter.

The setting sun turned the water a darker shade of orange, almost as if to get the two mages to get going already and finish the game. Juvia turned her head to glance at the glowing sun that was on its way to disappearing into its slumber.

Before Gray could continue his advance forward, a small cracking noise caught his attention. He froze, blinking slowly as he looked down to his feet to see if the ice paddies he created could no longer hold his weight. However, they held firm below his feet, showing no signs of breaking.

Before he could ask himself where the noise was coming from, his eyes widened in realization as they flew to land on the breaking ice around Juvia's ankles.

_Crap!_

Before he could open his mouth and lunge forward, he watched as she slowly spread her lips into a glossy, victorious smile.

"Then Juvia has wasted enough of our time."

And with a sudden splash, she was gone.

o-o-o

An exhilarating whirl of bubbles invaded Juvia's vision as her liquified body plunged into the water, a chilled rush of energy fueling her as she let herself sink down into the shadowy depths.

She closed her eyes and frowned to herself as she dropped her cool facial expression for an exhausted one. She was sure that she had been done for when he froze her in place, Gray's ice was as impenetrable as a glass plate attempting to crack a diamond. She knew that better than anyone. However, ice was still made of water, and there was nothing more natural for Juvia than water. It only took Juvia a matter of seconds to use Gray's sudden hesitation to concentrate on the frozen molecules fused with her skin to take control of them and break free.

But even so..

Juvia glanced upwards towards the surface, her hair flowing upwards in its ponytail.

All he had to do was walk forward and place his hands on her, and it would've been over. She would have been completely angry with herself for coming so close to the end without being caught only to lose to her Gray-sama. And she had come so close to letting her team dwindle down another player.

So why hadn't he tagged her? He was coming for her, and he stopped suddenly, watching her struggle with a strange look on his face as it appeared to have been painted with an uncharacteristic blush. It was almost as if he were distracted by something beyond her field of vision entirely.

She squeezed her eyes shut even tighter as she admitted to herself that she enjoyed the blush invading his masculine face, puffing out her cheeks as a wave of affection began to invade her body.

Why is he the hottest human ever? She thought to herself as she finally opened her eyes to stare at a koi fish swimming lazily a few feet away. This game surely would have been easier if she were facing Natsu or Gajeel. Then she wouldn't be feeling so distracted at the moment, or rather, she wouldn't have to jump below the surface of the water just to compose herself. Well, more to gain a vantage point in carrying out her plan to steal the win in the fight.

A muffled splash brought Juvia back to her senses as a swarm of bubbles began to gather like bees a few feet above her, white foam blocking her vision of the figure that had made such a splash, not that she didn't know who it was, rather that she hadn't expected him to dive under the water so eagerly.

Within a few more seconds, the bubbles vanished up towards the surface, and he stared down at her with a fierceness that she'd only ever seen during intense battles. The look almost startled Juvia to a familiar chill, something that she hadn't felt in quite a long time. To others, she could only compare the feeling to eating a giant ice cream sundae or finally solving a difficult puzzle. It was something along the lines of pure dopamine overtaking her system and sending her cells into a frenzied, excited overdrive. She knew that it was impossible, but she swore in that moment that excited chills danced across her liquified body. Some time ago, Juvia was sure that her old self would have ran into his arms out of ignorant bliss just because he asked her to.

Times have surely changed, and the look on Gray's face confirmed this for Juvia.

She narrowed her eyes when she saw the thin strip of ice stretched across Gray's mouth and nose.

The severity of the moment finally sunk in, and with a small exhale of bubbles, Juvia allowed her limbs to partially return to flesh. He watched her do this, knowing that she was about to make her next move.

They locked eyes, and their fates were sealed.

He was done playing games, and so was she.

The temperature of the water around them began to drop at a rapid pace, forming small shards of frozen water that tangled themselves in Juvia's hair and eyelashes and poked at the parts of her arms that were no longer liquid. Her eyes widened when she realized what Gray was doing, and she'd be absolutely damned if she would let him succeed. Acting as quickly as she could, she spread out her arms and allowed her magic to flow down into her fingertips and she released it in a sudden burst. She felt a rush of exhilaration as she allowed the water to roll smoothly around her body in a quick whirlpool. She felt her magic building up in her body, relishing in the familiar bliss when a sharp jab of pain shot up her right arm, causing her to release a gasp of bubbles that popped on her cheeks. The pain wasn't excruciating, but it hindered her enough to make her grit her teeth as the water around her began to slow in its defense efforts.

She saw the smug look on his face as he watched her struggle, and it infuriated her.

She thought that if she kept a defense of water around her that she would be safe, that if it had moved fast enough the current she created wouldn't freeze along with the rest of the river around them, just as the ocean never froze in the winter time. But that damned ice mage had managed to sneak the ice past her shield.

Juvia's eyes glanced down towards her pained arm, then above her towards the surface.

If she stayed in her liquified form, her limbs would freeze along with her environment, and she knew that Gray could have frosted over the entire river by that time if he really wanted to. Now, a smaller portion of her body being frozen like it was before was no issue, after all half of her body was solid, and it was that leverage that gave her the magic energy to focus her warm blood down into her ankles and manipulate the ice. But her entire body? That was a completely different story, not to mention the risk of nerve and muscle damage she'd give herself if she fell into the icy trap. And as she felt her muscles in her arms tense up with stabbing pain, she knew that she had to solidify her body.

And that was exactly what he wanted her to do.

She was falling into his trap despite her best efforts, and she knew that he was certain she'd figured it out.

She closed her eyes and the water around her began to slow, hushing the aquatic howls of the rushing water as the temperature continued to drop. The water around her body began to feel like jello, and as she slowly opened her eyes to see Gray moving closer to her, she realized that she had to act right there and then.

He wanted to play dirty? Fine. She'd show him dirty by giving him just what he wanted.

She smiled confidently at him, which prompted him halt his advance out of sheer suspicion.

She arched her head back and with a sudden rush, she allowed her body to solidify completely, feeling her magic rush into her solid fingertips as the cold water stung her cheeks, a smile spreading across her lips as she brought her hands in front of her.

That ice mask could only supply Gray with so much oxygen. He'd eventually have to return to the surface to replenish his air. Of course, she would have to eventually do the same, but who else could hold her breath in record time other than Juvia herself? Nobody that's who.

With a sudden burst, she released her magic and the water around her surged into a giant current, and with an innocent smile, she sent it flying.

o-o-o

"There's no way in hell I'm going in there."

The bakery stood before them in all its glory, a smaller brick building adorned with sugary pink windowpanes, a color fitting for a building that made its living off of selling pastries and anything that was made of sugar. It was considered by some to be one of the best bakeries in Magnolia, and one of the many who agreed with this statement was currently inside.

And outside, however, stood a small group of petrified fairies.

"I thought everyone was gone...h-how did she get in there?" A shaken Elfman questioned his fellow guildmates as they stood shoulder to shoulder a few feet away from the butter-yellow painted entrance.

"I heard the owner gave her a key a while back." Freed stated, his eyes focused on the door with sheer horror overflowing his eyes. "He said that he liked her attitude...or something like that."

"O-Or he just likes how her hair m-matches the cherries he puts on his angel food c-cake." Bixslow commented shakily, clenching his fists nervously.

"Y-Yeah...cherries…" Elfman barely agreed before running his hands through his hair and grunting in frustration. He turned to face his teammates in desperation. "I'm not going in there! I can't!"

"You lost in rock paper scissors!" Bixslow exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air for exaggeration, his babies chanting this fact with him. "You took an oath!"

_"An oath, an oath!"_ the babies chanted.

"I don't even know why we played rock paper scissors." Freed commented, crossing his arms and nodding to himself. "Bixslow and I are out of the game, so by default you're the only one who's eligible."

The two men looked back towards the bakery, and the horror in their eyes returned.

"J-Just don't make direct eye contact." Freed stuttered quietly.

"And m-make sure ya don't eye the cake on her plate." Bixslow added carefully.

Elfman swallowed nervously, glancing over at the female next to him, her brown hair flowing down her shoulders in waves. "Couldn't you just-"

"Absolutely not." Evergreen replied, cutting him off with a glare. "I'm not going to help you sell out my teammate, especially since you were the one to tag me."

Elfman glared right back at her, his bravery slowing coming back to him. "A true man isn't afraid to ask for help when he needs it."

A true man also knows his limits… he silently added to himself, shuddering at the image of what he'd find behind the doors of the sweet building.

Evergreen rolled her eyes at him, but not before she bit down on her bottom lip softly, taking in his words with a secret relish. A few seconds was all she needed before she puffed out her cheeks and grabbed the red flag tucked into her hip. "Well, this has been fun." she said, throwing her blank flag up in the air and catching it as she turned her back to the boys and waved. "I'm going back to the Guild. Have fun playing chicken!"

The men watched her leave, each of them sighing as her words of truth sank in.

They turned towards the entrance once more, Bixslow and Freed sighing in exasperation as they watched Elfman begin to sweat uncontrollably.

"Alright man, time to-"

"I'm not going."

o-o-o

The cobblestones were damp and cold under their palms as they clutched onto the rocky ground with their heavy breaths, water dripping down their cheeks and necks as their vision worked to regain its clear image.

They'd played the game of 'catch' for what felt like hours. Juvia would send a dangerous current Gray's way, while he would freeze it and send the ice flying back towards her. They'd hopped in and out of the water at least twenty or so times, traumatizing the innocent fish that only wished to swim lazily through their day. It was pretty certain that about half of the water from the river had splashed out of it and onto the buildings and sidewalks, the small portion of their environment looking as though there had been a mini rainstorm.

Gray glanced upwards from his kneeling on all fours position through his sopping wet bangs, glancing at a fatigue struck Juvia who was breathing heavily into the ground propped up onto her elbows. Her hair was practically glued to her cheeks with water, and as her eyes met his, he was unable to get up from his position and willingly boost his stamina.

Juvia watched him carefully, contemplating what her next move would be as she glanced up towards the sun. Her eyes widened as she realized that if she was going to make another move, it had to be in that very moment.

They had only a few more minutes till the sun disappeared.

"Are you gonna give up yet?" Gray asked her, grinning at her as he let out a small huff of amusement."

This irked her. "Bite me." she told him, pushing off of the ground so that she was kneeling.

Gray laughed. "Sounds tempting."

Did I really just say that out loud? A small voice in Gray's head asked himself, even though he dismissed the voice in his head to mimic Juvia's actions in glancing up at the dying sunlight. He gritted his teeth in frustration, glancing down at the ground as he tried to comprehend what could possibly help him win in this situation. He knew that if he sprinted towards her, she'd have plenty of time to liquify her body and escape his grasp.

But if he didn't do something soon…

"Juvia is tired!" he suddenly heard her exclaim, watching as she threw her head back and began to massage her temples with her fingers. "Gray-sama, you've really pushed Juvia to her limits today."

Gray watched her in fascination for a few moments, wondering how it was possible for someone to go from such a serious demeanor to a state of complaining. Well, not that he should be so surprised. He'd witnessed this type of behavior from people like Natsu and Lucy, and even he himself had been guilty of it from time to time.

Letting himself so, he pushed off of the ground as well and sat down on the damp cobblestones, exhaling in exhaustion. "You should talk." he replied to her, sighing as he looked off into the water at the cautious koi fish now swimming freely.

"Then let's end this."

Gray directed his attention back to Juvia, who was wringing out her hair before she flipped her blue locks over her shoulder. She shot him a serious look as she began to stand up straight. "We've run out of time. I'd say we were both evenly matched, and Juvia is sure that Gray-sama wishes to end this as well."

She waited for his answer, knowing that he had exerted all of his energy for the day and that he wanted to get back to the guild just as much as she did. She could feel her mouth water in anticipation for the food and desserts that their mini ball would surely provide, wishing to drown her day with strawberry whipped cream and vanilla sponge cake.

And, just as a way to speed up the peace agreement, Juvia smiled softly as she tugged at the sopping red flag still attached to her hip, and held it out in front of her for Gray to gaze upon the blank surface.

"See? Juvia is not holding the correct flag." she told him as his eyes widened in surprise. For emphasis, she let it fall to the ground with a small sloshing noise. She put her hands on her hips, acting proud of herself for concealing the truth for as long as she did.

A few seconds passed before Gray's surprised expression turned into an exhausted yet amused one as he laughed.

"Well that's just perfect." he laughed to himself as he looked up at the sky, sighing as he finally made the move to rise from his sitting position. "All this time and I could've been tracking down the real flag holder."

You and I both know that's a lie and a half his inner voice said sarcastically as he cautiously took a step forward, pausing before he took another step, watching as Juvia mimicked his actions. "But, what can ya do?"

She watched his every move with her ocean blue eyes, though Gray recognized that familiar sparkle that hid effortlessly behind her irises.

"So we do it at the same time." he said, rather than asked as the distance between the two of them shortened. Their environment slowly began to fade to a dark gray, the orange sunset melting away like a popsicle on a hot day.

Juvia nodded as she took another step. "You tag Juvia. And…" she suddenly trailed off as a faint blush began to invade her cheeks, unable to speak the following words without worrying what phrase would spill out of her mouth without her permission.

Gray dry swallowed the cooling air around them as they finally closed ninety percent of the distance that had been between them. "You kiss me."

The two of them said nothing for a couple seconds, staring into each other's eyes before they both shook their heads, as if to release the awkwardness from their bodies.

"Sh-Should we count to three?"

"Y-Yeah! Sounds good to me!"

Juvia inhaled and exhaled slowly, realizing that this was the moment she had literally always dreamed about, even though the kiss was more indirect than anything. She could do indirect kisses, it wasn't like she had to kiss a stranger on the lips. Gray was the last person she would describe as a stranger. After all, how could he be a stranger to her when she lived with him for a year?

"One."

After all…

"Two."

She also couldn't categorize Gray's lips as foreign to her.

Gray stretched out his hand towards Juvia, his fingertips just barely making contact with her forearm. He felt warm shivers go up his spine as she leaned in closer to him, her lips only an inch away from his cheek. He could feel her breath warm against his skin, and he forced his eyes to stay open for fear of hallucination. He let her scent overtake his senses, shaking away the flashbacks of the summer nights spent with laughter and waking up in the same bed even though they usually slept separately.

Oh how things had changed.

"Three." she said softly, her breath tickling his skin.

When neither of them moved from their positions, they glanced into each other's eyes as the sun began to say its final goodbye to the day.

It was as if this final change of light triggered something in the two of them, sending their adrenaline into a final dosage of overdrive as they both realized what was about to happen.

Gray suddenly jumped backwards, creating space between Juvia's lips and him as he landed on his toes. With a grin, he launched himself forward and reached out for her arm.

Juvia, however, had other plans.

They had both moved away from each other at the same time, both realizing that they could still fight for their teams.

Juvia had leapt backwards as well, and when her feet made contact with the cobblestone, she also launched herself forward with a final ounce of determination.

This surge of energy, however, was completely blinded by a couple of loose cobblestones as they fell victim to the road's devilish trick. As Juvia stuck her landing, her shoe got caught in the small gap in the ground and with a surprised gasp, she began to fall face forward into the ground.

Out of instinct, Gray immediately dove to cradle her head before it could smash against the stones, however he overestimated the distance he needed and ended up losing his control over his body. The two mages dove headfirst past each other, their heads slamming into the other's as Juvia's lips sloppily grazed Gray's cheek and his fingers brushed against her arm at the same time.

The sunset had vanished completely, leaving the two Fairy Tail mages grunting on the wet ground in pain.

Juvia's high pitched whine rang out as she began to rub her head slowly, biting down on her lip as the pain radiated throughout her skull. Gray hissed through his teeth as he did the same, both of them lying on the ground as they rode out the initial waves of pain.

Their legs brushed together as the two of them struggled to sit up. They both ignored the other's grunts of pain, sighing as they turned to face one another. Juvia's face lit up in amusement as she saw Gray slowly feel the red flag off of his forehead, having landed on top of it.

Gray looked down at the flag in his hand and blinked at it slowly before he raised his eyes to meet Juvia's once more.

They both turned to glare at the loose cobblestone in the ground.

"If anyone asks, this never happened."

"Agreed."


	8. Machine Gun Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levy plays cat and mouse with a frustrated Gajeel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little steamy at the end of the chapter. Not sure how far I'll be pushing the rating on this story, haven't decided yet!

Gajeel was confused. More so, he was utterly puzzled at the events that unfolded during his day that led him to where he was currently standing.

He couldn't help but grin at seeing Juvia act so boldly with her water attack on Gray earlier that morning. He got a kick out of that smug little face of hers, knowing that she had managed to push Gray's buttons a little too aggressively in the early hours of the morning. And he knew that she was loving every second of it, showing off to him in those little spandex shorts of hers, it was almost comedic.

And speaking of little…

Gajeel bit down on his tongue when he thought of those spandex shorts, though more specifically, he was thinking of how they looked on someone else...someone who he couldn't understand had taken him so long to track down.

He first went to the library, a place that he had rarely ever set foot in before this game, and even then it had been a complete waste of his time. He was immediately hit with the suffocating scents of mildew and parchment, it even made the dragon slayer's head fuzzy. It was weird to not be greeted by the little old lady who sat behind the reception desk, who's voice you could only describe as the stereotypical grandmother voice, or at least that's what Gajeel told anyone who'd asked. The woman was always incredibly kind to Gajeel whenever he was dragged into the ancient building by Levy, offering him a lemon drop from a silver bowl she kept on the desk. He'd be lying if he said he didn't take one every time he saw her, begrudgingly enjoying the tart yet sweet candy.

Though, after walking through the empty building, he made his way to the very back of the first floor, past the Young Adult Fiction section and towards the blue couch that rested in the corner of the room, Levy's favorite spot. He remembered her talking about how the sun poured through the window at the perfect temperature to warm her skin while she read or translated Ancient Fiorian text for pleasure. He picked up the weakest hint of her scent from the area, mixed with cleaning supplies and parchment, however he knew that the scent was a few days old thanks to the anti-scent perfume the girls used. He didn't expect to catch her scent anyway, though he hoped that he'd maybe find her in the place he first thought to look in. He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel any anger upon realizing that she wasn't at the library, call it a pride thing. And while this fact would have frustrated him, the folded up note he'd found on the couch angered him even more.

**_Nice try._ **

__

_He recognized her curvy handwriting, and he gritted his teeth as he crumpled the note in his hand, though after a few seconds, he began to grin._

_She was taunting him._

_Now, things got even more interesting._

_Next, he tried that cafe that her and Bunny Girl always went to, some cutesy place that drew designs in the foam of their lattes and sprinkled powdered sugar over everything they served. He couldn't understand why girls loved places like these, and if that weren't enough, he couldn't for the life of him understand why girls had such an affinity for coffee. The hot bean water was bitter, and it made his tongue feel strangely dry whenever his curiosity piqued and he'd steal a sip from Levy's cup. Gray drank the stuff cold, which had baffled him even further._

_He wasn't surprised to find the cafe door locked, the inside dark as he peered through the glass door. He sighed as he glanced at the wrapped up umbrellas that stuck out of the middle of the tables outside the cafe. After all, the french lady who ran it was most definitely in Juniper picking apart different kinds of exotic coffee beans to bring back to her business._

_But, he was surprised to hear a strange noise from the bakery a few feet down from the cafe, thanks to his superior hearing. With a mischievous grin, he abandoned his post at the cafe and quietly made his way to the front entrance. He crouched below the glass display cases, pressing his ear to the glass right under a white frosted wedding cake with blue roses. While the glass was thick, he focused in on the barrier and suddenly the sound of a fork scraping lightly against a plate filled his ears._

_Gajeel frowned. He hadn't expected anyone to be having a snack at this time, especially Levy. Was she really that relaxed about this game? Relaxed enough to sit down and enjoy a piece of cake? But then that didn't seem incredibly characteristic of the bluenette, after all he knew damn well that she was more of a cheesecake person._

_Gajeel's eyes widened at his train of thought, and shook his head rapidly. Focus, he thought to himself as he clenched his fists and his lips curled into a devious smile. Time to move._

_With a sudden rush, he sprang to life and launched himself towards the entrance of the bakery, and threw the glass doors open in a flourish, too excited to consider the fact that he could have actually broken the glass doors and cause more trouble for the Guild. But in the moment, nothing else mattered to him, other than the victory that was sure to taste sweeter than the frosting on the wedding cake display._

_"I got you!" Gajeel exclaimed in victory, as he pointed his finger towards his target. "I-"_

_His arm dropped as his eyes widened in shock, suddenly realizing he'd entered a lion's den._

_A pair of eyes blinked up at Gajeel as sweat began to drip down his temples, his throat becoming dry as his eyes drank in the person before him. His muscles refused to move as his jaw dropped to acknowledge the horrifying mistake he'd just made._

_His eyes travelled down to the plate on the yellow table before him, on top of it a piece of angel food cake frosted with buttercream and adorned with strawberries, crumbs of it splattered across the piece of china as proof of evidence that the piece of cake was currently being eaten._

_He hastily swept his eyes away from the plate, and when he tried to speak, he coughed in discomfort._

_The pair of eyes blinked once more, and without a single word, his enemy held out a plate towards him that was adorned with cookies, which appeared to be fresh out of the oven, to which he had no idea how they'd managed that._

_Gajeel's nerves began to petrify his body even further as the plate was held out towards him, the walnuts and chocolate wafting up towards his nose and making his mouth water. Out of pure instinct, he began to reach for a cookie before he hesitated briefly._

_This had to be a trap, it just had to be. There was no way that he'd be offered cookies so willingly...and with such a strange uncharacteristic calmness._

_But they did look delicious…_

_He made eye contact with the person who extended the sweet treats to him, and with a curt nod, Gajeel decided he would act quickly._

_He swiped a cookie from the plate, and with an uncertain look, began to back up from the cookie plate towards the doors. He moved slowly yet efficiently, keeping his guard up just in case his enemy decided to strike at the last minute._

_But, the lion of the sugary territory only placed the plate of cookies back onto the table and picked up the silver fork that was left beside the piece of cake. Gajeel watched the fork cut into the cake slowly, to which the action only took five seconds to induce his escape as he backed out of the bakery with a frown on his face._

_He'd never make that mistake again._

_An hour had passed by, and he was still drawing a complete blank, silently cursing his tracking abilities. If he really wanted to, he could've blamed the perfume that shook things up for the dragon slayers on his team. That would be the easy way out, blaming a foreign liquid for the lack of progress on his end, something that he refused to do. What made this whole situation even more frustrating was that he had told Natsu that he had an idea of where Levy could be, to which he decided that if Natsu taunted him about his cockiness that morning, he'd send him flying into another oblivion with a few broken bones._

_It also didn't help that he and Lily had been separated; Charle had leapt out of the shadows all too suddenly an hour prior; The two cats had managed to knock each other out of the running simultaneously. However, much to Gajeel's shock, Wendy had managed to slip away without being detected. He hadn't seen the bluenette with Charle when she had tagged Lily, but Gajeel knew that she had to have been nearby her partner. So, he spent about a half an hour trying to track down Wendy, but it was no use, since the little sprout basically molded into the air itself and vanished without a trace._

_And so, it was back to silently cursing to himself as he was unable to locate the one person who the guys all decided to put on Gajeel's shoulders entirely._

__"Well, obviously Gajeel is gonna go for Levy first!"_ _

_The voices of his teammates danced through his head as he stomped down the abandoned roadway the bakery he'd invaded was located. He wished that Lily was with him, more so that he could fly above the buildings for a greater vantage point like he had done earlier._

__"Well, can you blame him? He's obviously got a thing for her."_ _

_He rounded a corner, kicking a rock that lay defenseless in the street, smirking as it sprung up from the ground and landed perfectly in the flower pot that was perched atop a windowsill of a gardening shop that always smelled strongly of lilacs, a scent that made his nose itch. Deciding to try his luck once more, his eyes located another stray rock that lay helplessly on the road just waiting to be kicked._

_Smirking to himself, he drew his foot backwards, allowing his black boot to scrape against the pavement to prepare for his kick._

__"When are you guys gonna make it official, huh?"_ _

_His leg began to falter, and his eyes widened as the tip of his boot thumped against the ground as the words toppled into his train of thought. The rock he had tried to kick skid against the ground sloppily and hit the side of the brick building._

_Gajeel glared down at the rock that now lay a few feet away from him, clenching his fists as he remembered everyone's stares towards him on that day, feeling like needles were poking into his skin over and over again._

_He was used to people staring at him, he could handle that with no problem. Back in Phantom, he'd been given the side-eye and terrified looks from his own guildmates and people passing by on the streets. He'd seen mothers bring their children closer to them and turn them away from him protectively, never making eye contact with him. He had to admit that back then, he rather enjoyed being feared, or rather watching their reactions. The adrenaline that pumped through his veins at the fear in their eyes was a form of pleasure for him._

_But the stares he'd been receiving these days were far from pleasurable._

_He knew everyone was watching him, waiting for him to make the move that the whispers and giggled all told him would come one day._

_He'd glare right back at them, but this was nothing like Phantom Lord._

_Back then, people would cower away from his glare, he could practically smell the fear radiating off of them. And now, he'd just receive laughter and smirks, the complete opposite of what he was used to receiving._

_And it made him very uncomfortable._

_But why? It was the million dollar question he'd been asking himself ever since the doe-eyed girl he'd once almost murdered started to trust him with her whole heart. He hadn't understood why she poured her trust into someone like him, someone who was once Fairy Tail's enemy, someone who so ruthlessly traced Phantom's guild mark on an innocent girl's stomach with her own blood, someone who played a part in kidnapping one of their own and beating her._

_And he most certainly didn't understand how quickly he'd managed to fall in love with her._

_It had just...hit him all at once one day. He realized that it didn't matter what she was doing, whether she was brushing her hair or reading a book, everything about her was just so fascinating. He was perfectly content with sitting silently next to her just soaking up her presence, or watching her brush Lily's fur. All he knew was that he had it bad._

_And it hit him all at once and quick, like a machine gun._

__Drip_ _

_A sudden prick broke Gajeel out of his thoughts as he halted in his tracks, a small shot of cold water splashing onto his shoulder. He frowned down at the drop that began to cascade down his arm slowly, almost tickling his skin._

_His first thought went to Juvia, after all, he'd been conditioned to associate every foreign interaction that he'd had with water with the water mage. However, he quickly dismissed that idea, knowing that she had most likely gone to the river in the center of down. He also assumed that Fullbuster was right there with her, on the count of the growing attraction for Juvia that he could practically smell radiating off of him. He had decided to leave his long-time guild mate's fate in the game to Gray back when they all were cooking up a plan._

_He tilted his head back and focused on a pipe that stretched across the rooftop of the building that towered over his head. His eyes traced the white pipe towards a small hole right above his head, and a another drop of water that was threatening to fall down onto his skin._

_Gajeel brushed the sight off, rolling his eyes at the fact that in Magnolia, they could charge six-hundred jewel for just a dumb cup of fancy coffee, but they couldn't swing to fix some leaky pipes. Typical._

_Gajeel began to make his advance forward but paused as a gust of wind tickled his skin, sending scents of pine trees and rotting leaves into his nose._

_And not only that…_

_Gajeel's eyes widened upon recognizing the third scent. It was faint, but it was just enough to register in his senses._

_Even though he wouldn't give him the satisfaction, Gajeel had to admit that Natsu had the right idea when it came to playing the game. When their meeting was over, Gajeel overheard Natsu telling Happy that he'd stolen a shirt from Lucy's apartment, a pink tank top that he'd found hanging on one of her chairs or something like that. Gajeel had thought about it for a few seconds, and realized that the Salamander had a good point. There hadn't been anything in the set of rules that Makarov gave them that prohibited them from finding loopholes or taking clothing. The shirt could be used to track Bunny Girl with an extra kick, giving him a higher sensitivity to her scent. So, it only made sense that Gajeel did the same tactic, even though the two of them weren't counting on getting nose-blocked from some stupid liquid in a fancy bottle._

_His lips curled upwards into a smirk, and he took off running._

_After all, he knew that scent anywhere._

_o-o-o_

_"But Jet and Droy were able to tag Kinana and Laki after they were kissed!" Elfman exclaimed, raising his arms up in the air for emphasis, sweat dripping down his temples. His eyes swept back towards the entrance to his impending doom. "So one of you can man-up and go in there instead of me!"_

_"I told you, we can't!" Freed exclaimed with his arms adamantly crossed. "We're long past the one minute rule, and you know that!"_

_"What?! I never heard Master say anything about that!" Elfman exclaimed, silently cursing to himself as his plan completely backfired on him, suddenly feeling so small next to his guild mates._

_The three fairies were still shaking with fear, their faces pale as the blood in their veins washed away completely._

_"Now you're just making excuses." Bixslow almost yelled, grabbing onto Elfman's tanned shoulders and began to shake him. "Man up, Dude!"_

_"Man up! Man up!" his babies chanted threateningly as Elfman nervously glanced back towards the bakery entrance. He felt his heart rate pick up a few extra beats as he began to experience tunnel vision, something that he'd only ever heard about from others. He couldn't understand why his friends were pushing him past his limits. They all knew what awaited them inside of the bakery, and yet they still decided to push Elfman into a decision that could quite possibly ruin his life._

_He felt his manhood slipping quickly away from him as he felt his guild mates' eyes watch him intently, and he absolutely hated how powerless he currently felt. He'd taken on far more dangerous jobs in his lifetime; bandits without batting an eye, murderers without breaking a sweat; hell, he even lived after experiencing Acnologia's fury on Tenrou island._

_But this? This was something else entirely above him._

_He felt Freed's shaking hand on his back, patting him encouragingly._

_"If you hurry, maybe you can get to her before she eats her fourth piece of cake." he said nervously. "It always goes downhill after piece number four."_

_Elfman gulped as a violent image flashed in his head, causing him to close his eyes and shake it off violently. He inhaled slowly, and exhaled all in a rush as he gave his two teammates the side-eye, both of them nodding encouragingly at him, though the two of them were terrified for him._

_He glanced towards the entrance of the bakery, and after saying a silent prayer, he made his way inside._

_o-o-o_

_Levy knew she was screwed the minute that water droplet hit her shoulder._

_She had been doing so well in this game, so well at not being caught within the first few hours of the start of this whole charade that she had mistakenly allowed herself to get cocky. Bad idea._

_She had been nearby when Juvia had launched her first surprise attack at Gray, though she left as soon as she heard Natsu's thundering laughter. She'd have to thank the dragon slayer later on for covering up the sound of her footsteps as she darted away from the area to the first place she could think of._

_The library had been quiet and peaceful, the strong scents of mildew from the pages of the older books extra prominent that morning, though it was strange not to smell the lemon scented wood polish that they used every morning before they opened their doors, though Levy knew that it was because the staff decided to abandon parchment for organic peppers that increased in heat the more they were chewed. They never really locked the doors to the library, only locking the books into the shelves with a sliding glass device that made the books even more appealing, according to Levy anyway._

_Thanks to her confidence, she decided to have some fun with her pursuers, or rather the one pursuer who she knew would come after her. Scribbling down a note, she left it on her favorite blueberry colored couch and trotted out the back door, almost feeling like a child with her giddiness._

_She went more into town next, sliding into the shadows of the buildings and practically gluing herself to the walls to avoid being seen. She had almost slipped up when she heard footsteps coming her way, flinching when she saw Loke stroll by with Romeo in tow. She'd immediately covered her nose and mouth to muffle the sounds of her breathing, and slowly exhaled a sigh of relief when the two boys were out of sight._

_All had been going too well after that point. The sky was just showing signs of bleeding into the orange hues of sunset and she hadn't ran into anyone from the boy's team. The only people she'd seen from her own team was Evergreen as she was walking alone and out in the open, to which Levy could assume that she'd been tagged. The two made eye contact briefly, and Evergreen only shot a small wink in her direction as she continued to make her way towards the Guild._

_Levy stretched her arms over her head as she walked leisurely down the road as the sky continued to darken, her spirits high as she convinced herself that nothing could stop her._

_That is, until she felt that damned drop of water hit her._

_She'd immediately froze in her spot, her eyes widening as they slowly landed on the bead of water balancing atop her porcelain shoulder. She felt her heartbeat pound out of her chest in a panicked rhythm as her mouth went dry, and before she'd realized what she was doing, her feet sprinted her forwards as she booked it out of the open._

__Damn it!_ She'd cursed herself as she rounded a corner, breathing heavily. Why hadn't she been paying extra attention to her surroundings? This was totally karma for her cocky behaviour throughout the day, and who could blame the world for teaching her a lesson? Even the smallest misstep could lead her down the path of failure, or in her case, the washing off of her anti-scented perfume._

_All she knew was that she had to get away from her current spot, and fast._

_o-o-o_

_The heavy scents of chocolate and fruit invaded Elfman's nose as he stepped into the bakery, his palms sweating to an obscene degree. He'd entered the lion's den, a room of impending danger and doom, and he didn't know what to think or say as his eyes immediately landed on the lioness herself, who was currently munching on a chocolate chip cookie._

__Be a man, be a man!_ _

_Her eyes glazed over his body slowly, watching him with slight fascination as he bit down on his bottom lip anxiously, even though she seemed to be more interested in the glaze melting on top of the donut that sat prominently on her plate next to a slice of cheesecake topped with cherries._

_His eyes fell to the stack of plates on the table, and he began to panic even more._

_She had just finished her fourth piece of cake._

_She sighed then, cutting into Elfman's panicked breaths as she silently put her plate down on the table. She directed her attention to the cheesecake on her plate, and in a flash, plucked a cherry off of the cake by the thin stem and placed the fruit in her mouth, her lips curling around the plump base of the cherry as she separated it from its stem with her teeth. He watched her chew slowly and thoughtfully, before she swallowed and a playful smile curled onto her lips._

_"I assume you're not here for cake?"_

_o-o-o_

_They'd been staring each other down for far too long, and it irritated Gajeel to his very core._

_She was sitting with her legs crossed and arms folded, glaring down at him with those mocking doe eyes as she pouted down at him._

_They'd reached a sickening form of a stalemate, or rather, that's the best that Gajeel could describe the situation that he'd found himself in._

_It had been a cinch to track her after catching her scent, after all, dashing away and running around in a panicked frenzy certainly didn't help mask one's scent. If anything, it became more potent to him as he rounded corners and passed through alleys following Levy's growing scent._

_Though when he'd found her, he didn't count on her scurrying up a giant lamp post like some kind of squirrel, her plan to avoid him undoubtedly half-assed and a spur of the moment._

_However, for such an act as this, she held a ton of dignity on her end._

_"So, you're not coming down?" he asked her, his voice dry._

_"Nope." she shook her head, closing her eyes and tapping her foot in the air to a silent beat._

_The kid was stubborn, he'd give her that much anyway._

_Gajeel turned to glare at the dark orange sky, frustration building in his body as he began to realize that he was running out of time, and that he had to act very soon. He knew that from the moment he saw her of course, though for some un-godly reason his body hadn't wanted him to succeed in finishing his task right away._

_"Are you sure?" he tried once more, surprising himself in his choice of words. He realized how uncharacteristic his voice sounded with his question, even going as far to raise an octave and lose his gruff demeanour. Instead of sounding threatening, he ended up sounding like a dumb student questioning his teacher about whether two plus two equals four. If he were being honest, he hadn't expected Shorty to be so stubborn. Well, at least to some extent he did, after all this was the girl who refused to sleep one night just because he'd been hit with an extreme fever from some damned spider that bit him on a job. Out of all things for Gajeel to find his downfall in, it just had to be something stupid like a little bug. Natsu had been with him on the job, and he'd even been bitten himself, but he figured that his body heat had burned away the venom like it had been nothing. Lucky bastard._

_Levy had spent the entire night at Gajeel's side, adorning his forehead with a cold cloth every five minutes and monitoring his temperature. He'd told her about a thousand times to go home and get in bed, but each time she'd just roll her eyes and continued checking his temperature._

_She sure was stubborn alright, even going as far to chug five cans of a fizzy energy drink that was some sickly yellow color and fizzed._

_So no, he wasn't surprised that his stubborn partner refused to give him the satisfaction that he had cornered her. Then again, he hadn't expected to corner her like this._

_She glared down at him. "Positive." she stated, the wind blowing her hair over her shoulders._

_Gajeel scowled, the awkwardness of his voice melting away and roughing itself back into having as much softness as sandpaper. "You do realize that I could come up there." he threatened, pressing his palm onto the black surface of the post, his fingernails scratching against the black softly._

_She blinked down at him, frowning as her scowl softened. He knew that she was all too aware of that possibility, and if she weren't, she was utterly stupid. It began to show all on her face, that this possibility could quickly turn into reality._

_He enjoyed watching her stubbornness turn into uncertainty. It gave him an excited thrill._

_"Th-Then why haven't you done it already?"_

_This surprised him as she clutched onto the edge of her shirt with her left hand, the other steadying her body into a controlled balance on top of the post. "You're running out of time, you know."_

_She flashed him a confident smile, and before Gajeel realized what he was doing, he gripped the pole tightly and launched himself upwards, the air rushing around him as he got closer and closer to his target._

_Her doe eyes widened in fear once more, but as opposed to cowering in fear or trying to leap off of the lamp post, Gajeel watched in horror as her legs uncrossed themselves and began to swish around in the air at a frantic pace, almost as if she were listening to some upbeat music. But then, it was his turn for his own eyes to widen as the word Acid came splashing down from the script she'd created, and he immediately launched himself away from it by pushing off against the post._

_A sickly smell wafted up to his nose from his shirt, as some of the acid had dripped onto him before he could properly get away._

_"I'm sorry!" he heard Levy squeak as he watched her learn forward with concern, her hand abandoning her shirt to cup her mouth._

_"What the hell, Levy?!" Gajeel exclaimed. "Ya tryin' to kill me?!"_

_"I panicked, okay?!" she exclaimed, her eyes filled with worry. "You can't just jump on me like that!"_

_"Well the last time I jumped on ya, you sure as hell didn't pull a stunt like that!"_

_Gajeel's eyes widened as he realized what had just came out of his mouth, his entire head feeling as though it were going to explode from the fire burning in his cheeks. He felt his throat crackle dry as Levy's panicking waves to him froze. He watched as her own face lit up into a bright red that put his to shame, her lips hung open and twitching uncontrollably._

_Crap. He just had to go and open his damn mouth and spew out some crap like that. For all he knew, he was just as bad at Natsu for being so obvious with Lucy, though he thanked his lucky stars that nobody was around to hear what he'd just said._

_And nobody was around to see his flushed face increase when he realized that the last time he had..er..jumped onto Levy, he'd received a much more pleasant reaction from her._

_He began to feel the acid tickle the tops of his shoulders painfully, but he barely felt anything._

_"S-Sorry" he mumbled uncharacteristically, looking off to the dying sun. "I'm spendin' too much time with Natsu-"_

_"You didn't jump on me."_

_Her words surprised him, and as he turned his attention away from the sunset to face her, he was met with a mocking glare from the bluenette. She gripped the sides of the glass she sat on, and glued her legs together as she leaned forward from atop her tower of safety._

_Gajeel frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?"_

_"You didn't jump on me." she repeated, leaning back to a proper sitting position as she crossed her arms. Gajeel could still see a hint of blush dusted on her cheeks, and his own remained prominent after picking up on what she was hinting at._

_"I-It was more...gentle than that."_

_Oh Mavis, what had she gotten herself into this time?_

_She watched as Gajeel's face glowed a bright red, a completely uncharacteristic attribute to give the Iron Dragon Slayer, hell, she was even surprised seeing this reaction from him. It also didn't help that the orange sky deeply accentuated his flushed face, hers as well._

_But even so, watching him grow uncomfortable over the sudden slip gave her an excited rush. What had once felt like embarrassment now felt like empowerment. She glanced at the sunset quickly, realizing that she still had time to turn things around despite her sticky situation she'd found herself in by basically cornering herself. She was in a bad enough situation as it is._

_Not to mention the sudden burst of heat between her legs. That was another issue._

_But maybe she could have some fun with him._

_"Ain't nothing gentle about me." he muttered suddenly, pouting towards the ground. "I ain't that soft."_

_You got that right A snarky voice sang in Levy's head, which only made the heat intensify to an uncomfortable level. She gulped softly, inhaling oxygen to soothe the aching burn._

_She'd have to apologize to Lucy soon for all of the teasing she'd done on her for the past few weeks. After all, nobody likes a hypocrite._

_"Are you sure about that?" she asked him, putting her plan into action as she squeezed her legs together and placed her elbows on her knees, resting her chin in her hands as she smirked down at him. "I beg to differ."_

_Gajeel gritted his teeth, clenching his fists as he looked about ready to pounce. "Oh, you do, do ya?" He looked at her as if she were crazy, also with a small ounce of anger and...she couldn't describe the other feeling she was getting from him. She watched as his eyes traced her legs, looking as though he were about to melt like butter on hot toast. The corners of her mouth ran dry as she watched the blush on his cheeks grow, an action that she had always secretly loved about him. It was like a treasure to her, since the closest thing to blushing anyone had ever seen on his skin was when he was blowing up at Natsu for stealing his breakfast. She had been the only one to ever really see a soft side to the gunmetal mage._

_And once she saw it, she couldn't stop searching for it. It was like a drug to her, a way to satisfy her craving to reach her maximum aptitude for satisfaction without any sort of physical compensation._

_Levy's legs squeezed tighter together, turning her already pale thighs white as sheets. It also had some immediate effects on her that she really wished weren't so effective. She released a shaky breath, and as Gajeel looked up at her once more to let out a complaint, he placed his arm upon the post and his fingers dug themselves into the metal. His eyes met hers and his tongue slipped out from his pale lips and slowly traced them, his silver tongue ring shining up at her._

_Now that was an issue._

_She couldn't stop a small distressed grunt from escaping her mouth, the heat between her legs rising in tantalizing temperature.._

_"Take it back."_

_She blinked down at him through her hazy mind. "Wha-"_

_"I ain't soft." he repeated, his fingers digging deeper into the metal as if it were mere dough. Levy watched him digest the word soft like a bad piece of fruit, the discomfort on his face growing with every second. She couldn't take her eyes off of his face, her eyes tracing his jawline slowly back up to his lips. "Take it back."_

_She ignored the shivers going down her spine and glared back at her partner. "Or what? You'll pick the cherries off of my ice cream sundaes that you're too proud to admit that you enjoy?" she shot down at him, her eyes glancing up at the sky and grinned in satisfaction as the sky told her their time was almost up. "Snatch my books out of my hands while I'm reading them? Steal my morning coffee?"_

_The pole beneath her jerked forward, causing Levy to release a surprised shriek as she uncrossed her arms and grabbed onto the pole next to her hips, her legs flinging forward like a rag doll's and her heart stopping in her chest. The backs of her ankles bumped back onto the lamp post and she looked down to the ground shocked, her heart pounding in surprise._

_Perhaps she'd gone a little too far with the provoking.._

_"Time to come down." Gajeel said threateningly, Levy catching the slight smirk on his face as he said this. Typical, always trying to make himself the most fearsome even though Levy knew all too well how much of a teddy bear her partner was._

_He gave the pole another shove, this time having more success as it took away Levy's balance and pushed her off of her perch, causing her to wrap her arms and legs around the cold metal tightly. She pressed her right cheek into the metal and glared down at Gajeel who had satisfaction practically radiating from his body. She had a sour taste in her mouth as she watched his fingers dig themselves deeper into the metal, as if to convey that this would be the final strike._

_Her fingernails pressed against the surface of the metal._

_"I'll be takin' that coffee of yours." he told her with confidence brimming from his voice. She gritted her teeth as she watched the proud look on his dumb face, but the sour taste in her mouth soon disappeared as she flashed him a mischievous smile._

_His cocky grin dropped from his face slowly._

_Hell would freeze over before she let herself go down without one final fight._

_"But my Dear," she said sweetly, steading herself on the pole and bringing her thighs up closer to her chest, relishing in the fact that his eyes locked on her thighs just as they brushed against the post deliciously slow. She brought her hand to her hip and un-tied the flag attached to her hip "We haven't had dessert yet."_

_o-o-o_

_He could barely register what had happened until everything around him had gone black._

_It was like watching a spectacle of seduction, a trap that he'd walked into more often than not._

_His eyes had widened when he watched Levy release her hold of the post and bend backwards, her fingers flying and eyes blazing with determination._

_The word Mist flew directly into his face, causing him to let go of the post and rub the water out of his eyes, cursing softly._

_"Shorty!" he exclaimed, opening his eyes once more. "What are ya-"_

_He let out a grunt of surprise as the world around him went black, pressure being applied to the bridge of his nose and temples as he felt a pair of legs wrap themselves around his neck. He felt weight shift on his shoulders, and didn't stop the quick peck he'd received on his cheek, or rather, the corner of his mouth._

_Light laughter filled his ears as his hair was ruffled roughly atop his head._

_Goosebumps raced up the back of his neck._

_"I win."_

_She smiled triumphantly down at her handiwork, the loose knot in the makeshift blindfold she'd created looped around her fingers as she settled herself comfortably on his shoulders, ravishing in the satisfaction of her endeavors._

_The sunset was no more, darkness in the hue of a light violet draping their bodies as crickets began their usual song of the night. She immersed herself in it, sighing with relief at the cool air that brushed against her cheeks._

_"Satisfied?"_

_His voice broke her out of her reverie, having a sort of strange tone that she couldn't place. She huffed softly down at him, about to answer him in a cocky tone when she began to feel a strange heat invade her inner thighs. Frowning, she looked down at the mess of black hair beneath her to see that same familiar blush that could only belong to someone like gajeel, pink blushed against his tan skin. She frowned before she really looked down at the situation she was in, her bare thighs on either side of his head, his breath lightly tickling her skin as he looked to his side._

_She swallowed back a gulp as she felt his hand grab onto her ankle slowly, lingering there before his hand travelled up her smooth leg and up to her thigh on his shoulder, fingers dancing over her skin as he got closer to his own ear, and advancing closer to…_

_That uncomfortable heat slowly began to return between her legs, making her hands shake softly as her doe eyes widened immensely as his hand continued its journey upwards..._

_"B-Barely" she stammered, falling into a lustful trance as she felt her body move on its own, out of pure instinctual habit. Her thighs trembled as she felt her hips begin to rock ever-so-slowly on his shoulders, relishing in the heat from his bare shoulders meeting with the heat from her...arousal._

_Her blood began to boil violently as her breathing intensified as she slowly arched her neck back and released a shaky breath into the air, her hair falling in waves down her shoulders, toes curling._

__Oh Mavis…_ _

_"Then let's fix that, _shall we?"__

_In a split second, she was lifted off of his shoulders and left the lamp post pressing against her back. She let her body do the thinking for her, wrapping her legs around his sturdy hips and tangling her fingers in his hair._

_His lips crushed down on hers hungrily, claiming them as his own as his left hand cupped her cheek and supported the back of her head, his other hand squeezing her butt. She threw her head back as his lips left hers and went onto her neck, sucking on her skin hard giving her excited chills. She felt his body push on her torso, pressing her against the pole so she wouldn't fall away from him. She heard a high pitched moan escape her glossed lips as his hand left her ass and found its way into her spandex shorts and past her underwear, kneading her very core with the utmost urgency. Her voice cracked with every stroke of his fingers, pleasure escaping the small mage with hurried breaths as her eyes were squeezed shut. She rolled her body with his hand, catching onto his rhythm as her pale hips rocked against his hand._

_Oh, she definitely needed to apologize to Lucy. She was the biggest hypocrite of the guild, and quite frankly, she didn't care at the moment. She had more pressing matters to attend to._

_Breathing heavily, she cracked her eyes open and unhooked her shaking fingers of her hands from his hair and grabbed the sides of his head. She leaned forward to raise his head from her neck to lock lips with him once more, smiling against his lips as her right hand slipped past his belt._

_"I-" she whispered shakily as she found her target, slowly wrapping her fingers around the stiffness that had been trying to make its way out of his pants. "-think they won't mind if we're a little late."_

_He hissed with pleasure in her ear, which sent chills down her spine._

_The blank red flag lay on the ground a few feet away, abandoned and forgotten for more important matters._

_"Screw 'em."_


	9. Down and Dirty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Partners turned enemies for just a short while...oh, and there's tons of mud

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Nalu that we've all been waiting for

"I know you're here."

Natsu's eyes narrowed as if he were solving a math equation, staring down the numbers before waiting for the answer to jump out at him, not because he didn't know how to solve said equation, but because he needed to see the bigger picture before he could submit his answer. Then again, he'd never took a math test in his life, let alone written anything down on a piece of paper. Igneel had learned that Natsu's tactile approach on everyday demeanors also applied to teaching the kid math through pebbles and twigs, and sometimes even berries he'd pluck off of bushes and pop right into Natsu's mouth as a reward. Even Makarov never sat Natsu down and made him take written tests like the others, knowing he'd just get bored and set his paper on fire.

No, he prefered a more hands on approach to handling the problems that faced him, or rather, the problems that currently hid from him.

Natsu grinned as he stared as the restless body of water in front of him. His eyes traced the waves enthusiastically as adrenaline pumped through his veins. Never in his life had Natsu been so genuinely excited about water.

"Ne, Natsu?" Happy chirped next to him, frowning down at the water, cautiously keeping his paws away from the parts of the cobblestone path that were a dark gray shade from being damp. "We've been here for a while now...don't you think that we would've found Lucy by now?"

Natsu looked down at his blue partner beside his feet before bending down and scratching him softly between his ears. "If it were anyone but Lucy, I'd agree with you Buddy." Natsu told him, his eyes scanning the water slowly.

Everything had clicked when he ran into Bixslow and Freed, of course it wasn't Juvia who soaked them to the brim with a giant wave. That wasn't true to her style anyway, and if it were her, she would've sent the two swimming into the next town, not purposely of course. He knew just as well that Lucy had the capacity to do the same, but she wouldn't do that to anyone in Fairy Tail, other than himself maybe. And it was absolutely uncanny of the blonde to help out a teammate in need, like helping Lisanna escape from Natsu's teammates so that they could keep one of their own in the game.

"I know you're here Lucy!" Natsu grinned, raising his right arm and swiftly brushing his fingers through his spiky pink locks, the heat of the dying sun locked onto his hair and spreading across his palm.

The water released a metallic smell that filled Natsu's nose, leaving an unappealing taste on his tongue. He'd always resented walking next to this part of the river, and he could put all the blame on the smell alone; the perfect spot for many to throw jewel coins into the river and make useless wishes for future love or more money, which seemed so counterproductive to Natsu since the dummies were throwing money away to wish for more money. He couldn't fathom what sense that made to anyone, with all the money that was glittering below the slow rushing water he could buy himself an exotic pet, like a lizard that breathed fire or even a five course meal that could satisfy him for days. Lucy, however, had scoffed at his statements of the wasteful money at first, believing in the fun of making wishes and throwing the coins in the water when the two of them had stopped for a snack at the bakery near the famous money wasting spot once after a job. Natsu wasn't a huge sweet tooth, but the owner of the bakery enjoyed whenever Natsu came by ever since he'd scared off a man trying to rob the place once upon a time. He was so appreciative that he'd even developed a special recipe for cake that involved hot sauce mixed into the butter cream frosting and hot tamale candies baked into the batter. Natsu had told her she was nuts, nuttier than the chunks of almonds that were baked into the slice of cake that sat on her plate. She'd rolled her eyes at him, and looked out towards a couple holding hands and throwing multiple coins in the river. Natsu openly smirked at her when her eyes soon began to narrow, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance as another couple began to throw multiple coins into the water, followed by one small child taking an entire coin purse and turning it over so that her coins fell into the water with a giant splash, exclaiming to her mother that she'd have extra luck in making her wish come true if she used more coins. Lucy swallowed harshly, closing her eyes and reaching for her cup of tea.

Later that night, Natsu had knocked on her window and the two exchanged silent eye contact through the glass for a good ten seconds, before Lucy reached down to open it for him.

"I'll get my coat."

They hadn't stopped sifting through the dirt caked on the bottom of the river until they'd picked out every coin they could find. Lucy had contracted a bad cold after their night of coin diving, but she'd treated herself by buying a new sweater with the jewel she'd acquired.

Natsu smirked at the memory, glancing down at the new coins that shone beneath the water as he walked by. They'd have to have another dive session soon.

Natsu stopped in his tracks, the thought of the water rushing through his mind and turning the wheels in his head. He bit down on his cheek inside his mouth, tasting even more of the scents of the coins before an idea burned brightly into his mind, a grin spreading across his face slowly.

"Happy," Natsu began kneeling down onto the ground and looking to his partner "I'm gonna need ya to fly up high for me."

The Exceed frowned at the Dragon Slayer "Huh?" he chirped "What for?"

Natsu laughed, stretching his right hand over the water next to him as he felt the fabric of his pants near his knee dampen. Images of a soaking wet Freed and Bixslow swam through his mind as his fingers inched closer to the water below. The liquid danced teasingly beneath his palm as Lucy's face sparkled its way into his psyche next, making him grin mischievously as he felt the blood in his veins begin to simmer, shooting down into his hand. A slight steam began to rise up from the top of the water, tickling his skin as it left small drops of water to cling onto his muscles.

The dragonslayer grinned. "It's gonna get hot."

Happy sprouted his wings and let himself levitate a few feet above the water, eagerly waiting for Natsu to give him the signal to increase his height.

If Lucy wasn't gonna come out of her watery hiding spot, he'd just have to make her. Plain and simple.

But then again, it was never that way with the two of them.

"Na-" Happy could barely exclaim before water spurted out from the river at lightning speed, directly at the Exceed. Natsu's ears were filled with mixed sounds of rushing water and Happy's cry of surprise as he watched his blue friend be launched across the golden sky, his little voice growing fainter and fainter as the jet of water rained down upon Natsu, dampening his hair and making it stick down flat to his temples.

"Happy!" Natsu exclaimed, motioning to hop up from his kneeling position before something cold and wet wrapped itself around his right arm, slamming him back onto the cobblestones, a sharp pain shooting up his knee. He gritted his teeth as he saw the water wrap around his arm like a vice, squeezing his arm tightly and leaving it numb. His eyes widened as he felt it pull him more and more into the river, the force immensely strong, as if a weight were on the other side. He growled a low growl of frustration, as the water had made its way up and above his elbow and clamped down onto his shoulder. He fought the liquid, pressing his feet onto the cobblestones and straining to stand up straight.

"Damn it!" he cursed to himself as he struggled to make a fist with his submerged hand. He felt the muscles in his arm strain as he saw small bubbles beginning to fill the water around his arm. He gritted his teeth even harder as steam began to rise from his arm, sweat dripping down his temple as he struggled to figure out why the water hadn't evaporated away.

However, he didn't have much time to dwindle on that fact, as his ears picked up on the sound of another jet of water shooting out of the river and this time, wrapping itself around his torso and neck. He coughed violently as the water hardened around him like a vice, and before he could even blink, he was swept off of the cobblestones and was dragged into the cold water, bubbles rushing into his vision and filling his ears. He grimaced as he tasted the metallic undertones of the water, a few coins lightly slapping his calves as he opened his blazing eyes to see nothing but dark blue depth up ahead.

Not bad he thought to himself briefly before his lungs suddenly were able to take in oxygen, his head breaking the surface of the water. He panted slightly as he felt his arms stiffen against his sides, the water around him feeling sort of like the jelly Mira spread on his toast at the guild.

"Sorry for the roughness." a familiar voice apologized to him as he swiftly directed his attention towards it, eyes blurred and irritated from the water. "But I can't have you evaporating the river on me like that."

Lucy always had a certain way of showing everybody up, and he couldn't understand how she did it each and every time. Whether it was opening the front doors of the guild and swinging her hips slightly as she walked in or even when she brushed her hair behind her shoulders as she doused a piece of paper with words from her pen, she always managed to stand out.

And seeing her in that moment was no exception.

She was like a fairy, balancing atop the rushing water as if it were solid ground, small droplets of water floating around her arms and legs. Her peach skin was almost tinted a darker orange with the sunset, making her blonde hair appear extra gold; it swished behind her shoulders in the wind, the red tie in her hair moving along with it.

She looked out into the distance with an embarrassed grin. "I'll have to get Happy some really delicious fish after this. I didn't mean to send him flying to the next town."

Natsu spit some water out of his mouth and grinned at her. "What? And I don't get an apology?"

Lucy's eyes met his, and her sheepish grin turned into a confident one. She had a familiar twinkle in her eyes. "You've had this coming to you for a while now."

"Tsk." he shook his head. "I'm hurt."

Natsu looked her up and down, her attire completely changed from the similar uniform look the girls' team had donned. It wasn't like he'd never seen her like this before, in fact it was the same outfit she'd produced in his memory of refilling the lake at the park. His eyes traced the long black zig-zagged line across her chest, the yellow and green straps of her bikini top overlapping them on her collarbone. The only difference that he could spot in her appearance was the suspicious red flag tucked into the side of her skirt. But yet, he felt that there was something else he was missing, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"You're not getting this from me." she locked eyes with him as he looked up at her, her fingertips brushing the fabric lightly. "Not if I, nor the sun, has anything to say about it."

She took a step towards him, ripples of water spreading out in lethargic circles as her slow gait brought her closer and closer to Natsu. He narrowed his eyes as she looked down on him with the utmost satisfaction. It added a small blush to her cheeks, brightening up her complexion a little, almost the same shade as the small amounts of pink painted across the sherbert sky. Hell, it even made her eyes more pronounced, bringing out that exciting spark that ignited her pupils whenever she was determined to do something.

He'd secretly always liked that spark. It reminded him of why she was his partner, why they picked each other.

He felt his mouth curl upwards in a smirk, and she stopped in her footsteps, frowning skeptically as he felt the water pressure around him tighten. This only made him chuckle softly, watching as his partner stared him down with a sour suspicion painted all over her face.

"It's a good thing that I don't give a crap about what the sun has to say." he told her as-a-matter-of-factly.

He felt a delicious and familiar power boil through his veins, rushing down into his toes and fingertips. When he felt the bubbles begin to pop on his skin, his smirk transformed into a wide grin as he watched Lucy's eyes widen in horror.

"Now I'm really fired up."

And in just a flash, the river would be as well.

o-o-o

Lucy felt the heat on her face before she could even process what was about to happen. Her lips parted slightly, though her voice would not yield to her desire to use it as she watched the bubbles form rapidly around Natsu, popping like popcorn. The water around them began to stir uneasily, splashing against her feet and hitting her exposed skin where her sandals didn't cover her completely. Her stomach dropped when she realized that the water was extremely warm, almost hot.

She looked into Natsu's mischevous eyes, and her stomach dropped to her feet.

She'd wasted too much time.

A sudden roaring of boiling water filled her ears as hot steam blew all around her, stinging her eyes and making them water, making her gasp in surprise. Losing her footing, she fell backwards onto her butt, her Aquarius Stardress allowing her to remain above the water rather than falling into it. It took only a few more seconds before the water sizzled away and she felt herself sinking into the mud and stones that lingered below the once full river. She watched in horror as the steam continued to billow around her, frizzing up the ends of her hair and making sweat drip down her temples. She bit down on the inside of her cheek in frustration. What else did she expect from Natsu? He'd pulled a stunt like this before afterall, so she didn't understand what logic in her brain told her that she would be able to hold him with her constricting currents. She glanced upwards at the sky, squinting through the steam. She could at least be relieved that Happy was out of the picture for the moment, the poor exceed probably draped over a tree branch with the wind knocked out of him, she'd make sure to give her apologies to the cat the next time she saw him.

The mud beneath her began to suction her more securely into its surface, and she grunted as she plunged her feet into the ground and clenched her fists, pushing herself up out of the mud, her fingers brushing against some coins as she did so. She let out an annoyed tsk as she wiped the mud off of her hands and onto her legs, shuddering as she tried to convince herself that she was at that spa in Bellea and the mud was just a moisturizing mask that would make her skin glisten.

She gritted her teeth and swiped off a piece of mud from her cheek and she looked ahead of her, the steam still billowing around her, shielding Natsu from her vision, and her from Natsu's she soon came to realize.

This might be my only chance to turn things around she thought to herself as she closed her eyes and let her Stardress fade from her body with a swift flash of glitter. She reached upwards and tightened her ponytail, paying no mind to the small bits of mudd she felt caked onto her hair, it was the least of her worries.

Her fingers brushed against the sturdy keys attached to her hip, and she swiftly drew one from the keyring, her eyes quickly sweeping over the symbol on the top of it, confirming to herself that it was the key she needed.

She held it out in front of her, and poured her magic into the metal, the satisfactional feeling of a connection being made filling her body.

"Open." she whispered.

This was her last shot, and there was no way she'd mess this up.

o-o-o

Natsu grinned to himself as the steam around him rose up towards the sky, the wind blowing the vapor away from the river that once existed around him. He laughed to himself, patting himself on the back for wiping out the water around him as if it were a mere puddle. He'd have to ask Lucy and Juvia to refill the river once the game was over, a favor to the winner from the losing team.

Natsu ran his hand through his ruffled-up hair, and grinned once he began to see a female silhouette begin to form up ahead, the curves all too familiar to him.

"And I thought you knew me by now!" Natsu called out to her in a taunting matter, his left hand clenched into a fist and resting on his hip, his other hand up hear his face, his thumb pointed at himself, the rest of his fingers in a fist. "Water can't stop this dragon slayer!"

The steam was almost fully cleared, and Natsu finally caught a glimpse of his opponent.

She'd gone through another outfit change, her bikini top and skirt had been exchanged for a bodysuit and half sleeve look, coattails jutting out from her curved hips. She stood with her legs planted firmly on the ground-in the mud no less-her long, blonde ponytail draped over her right shoulder, and right below the tip of her hair was the infamous piece of red fabric he sought after.

"You may be right." he heard her speak clearly, smirking as she lazily flipped her hair over her shoulder. "So maybe it's time I leveled the playing field."

It was then that Natsu realized that she wasn't alone, another shadow stood right next to her at attention, ready to attack. Natsu zoned in on the pointed ears and long neck, and he immediately knew who was next to Lucy.

He watched as she held out her hand, and with a small flash, a bow and arrow materialized into the air and landed perfectly into her outstretched hand, her fingers wrapping around the weapon confidently. As swiftly as the weapon arrived, she pointed it towards him, her fingers wrapped around the tail of the arrow and string, completely in charge.

Natsu grinned at her, huffing in satisfaction. "It's been a while, Sagittarius!"

"Moshimoshi!" the spirit beside the blonde nodded to the dragon slayer. "Natsu-dono."

He held a similar stance to his master's, bow aimed and ready to fire. The sight of the two of them almost set him on edge, sending excited chills down his spine as Lucy flashed him with a confident grin.

"A little too muddy don't you think?" Natsu asked aloud, directing his question towards Lucy, looking her up and down. "Wouldn't want someone's hooves to slip out from under them."

"You just worry about your own hooves, 'kay?" Lucy fired back at him, shooting a nod towards the horse next to her. "We've gotten pretty steady on our feet."

"I don't doubt that." Natsu nodded, grinning as he clenched his hands into fists, orange sparks of baby flames flying out from his skin, the warmth of the fire egging him on and increasing his adrenaline, the battle before him sure to be an exciting and thrilling one.

They stared each other down for a solid three seconds before the sparks ignited.

"Bring it on." he taunted, his leg muscles twitching.

She smiled at him and aligned her arrow with her target, her fingers steady.

"Oh, I intend to."

And she sent her arrow flying.

o-o-o

In the duration of his whole life, there was only one time that Elfman had ever felt an immense amount of fear. It was years ago, after he'd regained consciousness from the beast magic invading his brain seeing his little sister bleeding and dying on the ground, the rocks around her bright red and wet from the rain. The fear that he had killed his sister, that his innocent little Lisanna was dying because of his actions pounded through his body. And to make matters worse, this had all been too painfully true. Which is why ever since she'd returned to them, he swore he'd never let fear overtake him ever again, swearing to himself that he'd push away the fear and take control.

And it was because of this promise to himself that he now stood outside of the bakery with a pained look on his face, walking down the steps in a lethargic manner with a piece of cake sitting perfectly on a plate.

He kept his eyes on the manly pink frosting as he felt the blazing stare of his teammates on him. He didn't dare look up from his dessert.

"She...gave me cake." was all he said to them, to which they groaned collectively.

They had a long way to go.

o-o-o

Natsu's eyes widened as he watched Lucy switch the trajectory of her aim within a second's notice, her response to him lunging at her all of a sudden. Natsu was able to catch a glimpse of her fired up eyes before his vision suddenly turned dark. A cold and damp substance smacked him right in the face, the feeling travelling across his arms and legs and permeating throughout his neck. He tasted earth and grime on his tongue, his face scrunching up with the metallic taste. He brought his arm up and swiped it across his face, clearing his vision for only a few seconds before he watched Sagittarius release his arrow, pointed at the ground like Lucy had moments before. He released the arrow, and Natsu's vision was once again darkened by damp and cold black.

Lucy certainly knew how to use her surroundings to her advantage. Natsu silently praised her for using the mud around them, it almost made him smile as he thought back to the person he once thought Lucy was, back when they went on their first mission together. Back then, she complained over a snowstorm and hid in that Grandfather Clock looking spirit of hers. And now looking at her-well with what vision he had through the mud-she was getting down and dirty with the elements. It excited him, amusing him even.

His sharp hearing heard Lucy pull back on her bow once more, and he swiftly jumped backwards as he wiped the mud away from his eyes once more. The wet earth splattered onto his legs but he'd managed to dodge the brunt force of it.

Gotta stop her from shooting he thought to himself. He glanced down at the section of ground he was about to land on, and with a snap of his fingers he sent his fire blazing down on to the ground. The mudd succumbed to his flames, and turned hard and cracked. He landed atop of it smoothly, the dried pieces of mudd breaking off and hitting his ankles. With no extra second to spare, he launched himself towards Lucy.

Surprise filled her eyes as she took a half a step backwards as Natsu's hand reached out towards her, adrenaline filling his body with the anticipation of victory.

However, that spirit completely left his body when he felt a hand grab onto his ankle and pull him down. He gasped in surprise as his stomach hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of him as he gritted his teeth.

"What in the hell-" he said aloud before he turned towards the hand, meeting a pair of sapphire blue eyes piercing into his.

"Nice, Virgo!" Lucy exclaimed confidently, triggering a nod from the celestial being.

She was covered in mud, her pink hair matted up with the stuff, her usually neat dress adorned with the wet earth. She was in a similar position as Natsu, sprawled out on her stomach drenched in mud.

"Thank you, Princess." the maid saidly plainly.

Natsu smirked at his partner, watching as she smiled back at him mockingly, swiping a piece of mud off of her cheek. "So we're playing dirty now, huh?"

Lucy crossed her muddy arms. "Nothing dirty about it. It's my magic, and last time I was concerned you're the one who decided to play dirty." she told him, gesturing towards the muddy ground around him. "I was looking forward to a mud bath from the spa, but this isn't what I had in mind."

Lucy watched Natsu as he laughed, propping himself up onto his elbows. "Sorry to say you won't be making it to the spa. But the guys and I will be sure to tell you all about it!" he laughed. "This is the closest you'll get to a mud bath." his eyes swept around them, talking about the mud before he returned his look to the blonde.

Lucy closed her eyes in annoyance and huffed. "You boys are too dense to fully appreciate that spa. And this?" she gentured around her. "You call this a treatment?"

"I call this a pleasurable punishment." Virgo chimed in, making Lucy sigh in exasperation. "Though it seems that Natsu-san wishes to get down and dirty with you."

Natsu choked, coughing up the rough air in his lungs as Virgo's words reached his ears. His throat felt dry as his eyes widened, to which he awkwardly glanced off to the side. Virgo had said some racy stuff in the past, that's for sure, but her choice of words this time around made the fire in Natsu's body heat up his face to a light pink. He glanced back at Virgo slowly, sweat beading on his temples as she looked right back at him innocently.

"Well, is it not true?" she asked him, looking from Natsu to Lucy.

"V-Virgo!" Lucy stuttered, her face glowing bright red. Her fingers around her bow shook uncomfortably.

"Is there not mud around us?"

Natsu and Lucy exhaled shakily, both of them releasing the uncomfortable stiffness to their bodies. Sure, that was his intention after all, in a matter of terms. He purposely didn't dry up the ground below the water all the way completely, hoping he could use the mudd to his advantage to make it harder to move for Lucy, though he had no idea that she'd turn the tables on him and use the mud to her own advantage instead. Not to say that he didn't think that there was a possibility that Lucy would have a plan up her sleeve, she wouldn't be the person he knew if this were the case. She was smart, unyielding.

Natsu glanced up at the sky. He gritted his teeth as he realized that his time was almost up.

"You're right," he began, bringing his palms together. His words caught Lucy's full attention, she tightened her grip on her bow, bracing herself for Natsu's next move. His eyes swept down to the mud beneath him, then back at Lucy. He saw her eyes widen, and he knew that she knew what he was about to do.

"So, let's change that."

Screw the mud. Time to make things work in his favor.

His hands ignited, and he shoved them into the ground.

o-o-o

Juvia and Gray stopped in their tracks, halting their conversation as they watched the water in the river beside them begin to sizzle, steam billowing upwards to the sky. It reminded Gray of a hot tub, though hot tubs usually didn't lose water as they heated up.

Juvia's hair began to frizz up as she and Gray exchanged puzzled looks. Gray felt his face heat up from the steam, making him extremely uncomfortable as sweat pooled around his temples.

"What on earthland…" Juvia said as she watched the last of the water bubble down into the ground, creating streaks of mud in between the old cobblestones beneath the river. "What could be-"

She cut herself off as Gray shot her a look, and she immediately knew the answer.

"Natsu." They both repeated in unison.

o-o-o

"Virgo!" Lucy shouted, throwing her bow out before her as it vanished with a flash.

"Understood!"

Natsu felt Virgo's grip on him vanish. His ears picked up the sound of digging, and Virgo's scent was suddenly dulled from his senses. No matter, he had work to do.

His flames worked almost immediately, spreading across the ground at a rapid pace and drying up the sticky mud, turning it into crust. He pushed against the ground and sprung upwards, running after his flames towards Lucy.

"Time to end this!" he exclaimed, giving everything he had in his stride. He watched as Lucy jumped backwards a little, her eyes darting to the ground and the fire that raced towards her.

The ground began to shake slightly, which Natsu picked up almost instantly. And with a sudden crack, he watched as a muddy figure popped out of the soft ground, an area his fire had not yet touched.

"Now!" Lucy exclaimed as she dashed forwards, leaping a few feet up off of the ground. Natsu's eyes widened as the muddy figure, who he had quickly realized was Virgo, knelt down to the ground and held out her cupped palms. Her hands caught Lucy's foot, and she sent the blonde flying up into the air. Natsu stopped in his tracks as Virgo winked in his direction and disappeared with a sparkling flash, right before his fire swept over the ground where she was standing.

Another flash of light caught Natsu's attention, and he looked up to watch Lucy's body engulfed in glitter. He watched as the tails of her top melted away and when the light faded, she was wearing a new black and red outfit. She almost looked like a ninja.

"Sand Barrage!" she called out, throwing her palms together. A huge burst of sand spun in the air from her efforts, creating a sort of twister. The twister broke apart into four parts, and they shot out all around her, slamming into Natsu's flames and effectively putting them out.

She landed atop of her hand, a little unsteadily Natsu noticed, her feet sinking into the huge layer of sand ungracefully. She grunted softly, but didn't have time to focus on the ground as Natsu used his fire in his palms to shoot himself towards Lucy. She whirled around with wide eyes as she watched Natsu's hand approach her waist, his fingertips inches from tagging her. She cried out in surprise, and Natsu was yet again met with darkness. He felt the sand invade his eyes and hair, falling into his eyelashes as he shook his head.

"No fair!" he exclaimed. "Ya don't see me trying to shoot fire in your face!"

"That's because if you ever did, you would never see the sun again!" she exclaimed furiously.

Natsu shook the sand away from his eyes only to see Lucy engulfed in light once more, changing back into her Aquarius Stardress. Without skipping a beat, she threw her hands down onto the ground and shot a heavy stream of water everywhere, dampening the sand. She heard Natsu's advance, and her head shot upwards as she dodged his hand once more.

The two continued this dance of theirs for the next few minutes, Lucy dodging Natsu's tag attempts and Natsu bending backwards to avoid Lucy's lips, the mage trying her best to plant a kiss on him.

The ground around them had become nothing short of a disaster. Lucy's water attack had made the ground soggy and almost impossible to walk or run smoothly on. Their scuffling hadn't helped the situation either, mixing the wet sand with the dry dirt, which was mud again.

The final time that Natsu dodged her mouth, Lucy glared at him, angry fire brewing in her eyes.

"Get over here already!" she exclaimed, lunging for him once more, only slipping on her own feet and landing face first into the sandy-mud mixture.

Natsu burst into laughter as Lucy raised her head to glare at him, nothing but her eyes visible from under the tan and brown sludge. Her glare made him laugh even harder, making his muscles ache.

"You TOTALLY deserved that!" he exclaimed with glee, his laughter growing as Lucy's attempt to scramble to her feet ended in her slipping back onto the ground. The agitated look on her face amused him as he made his way over to her to end the game, still laughing at an obnoxious volume.

That is, until he himself slipped in the mud and sand.

He fell face-first for the second time that day, and this time he heard Lucy's laughter ring in the air.

"Karma!" She exclaimed "Doesn't feel so hot, does it?!"

"Yeah, Yeah." Natsu rolled his eyes. "Hilarious." He propped himself up onto his elbows once more that day, and balanced on one of them to point at his partner. "I'm getting that flag from you! Even if I-"

He halted his speech, his lips parted from his unfinished speech. He stared at Lucy long and hard, making sure that his eyes weren't tricking him. This made Lucy frown at him with confusion, obviously not seeing what he was currently observing.

"What?" she asked him, blinking slowly. "Is there something in my hair?" she patted her head worryingly, eyes darting around frantically.

"Where's the flag?"

"Huh?" she frowned at him, her brown eyes big and naive. "What are you talking about?"

Natsu grunted as he hoisted himself up off of the ground onto his knees. "Your flag is gone."

Lucy blinked at him slowly, and Natsu stared right back at her evenly, unwavering. She was leaning on her side, her left side of her body supporting her weight in the mud. Her key holder was exposed, some of her keys poking through prominently.

Her face slowly melted into an annoyed one, eyes narrowing.

"Nice try." she said dryly. "You want me to look away so that I won't see you coming towards me. That's the oldest trick in the book, bud."

"Luce, I'm dead serious." Natsu countered, his eyes sweeping around them frantically, searching for any sign of something red. "Where is it?"

"Natsu, stop." Lucy rolled her eyes, reaching for her hip. "I know for a fact that it's right-"

She stopped talking as her fingertips only touched the green silk of her skirt. Her eyes widened as she slowly glanced down to find that Natsu was right. The flag was gone.

"What?!" Lucy exclaimed, releasing her magic and transforming back into her original outfit of her red t-shirt and black shorts. She patted her side down frantically, lifting her red shirt to see if it had sunk beneath the fabric.

"Hmph." Natsu huffed. "I'd say I told you so but-"

"Oh shut it!" Lucy fired back, panic rising in her features as she hoisted herself up onto her knees, digging her hands into the earth around her. She threw clumps of sand and mud around her, digging till she reached stone. "No, No, NO!" she cried out.

"This is all your fault!" Natsu exclaimed as he copied her action, digging with all his might.

"My fault?!" Lucy exclaimed, grabbing a handful of mud and launching it in Natsu's direction. "You're the one who came at me like a mad man!" The mud ball hit Natsu square in the chest, which did not please him in the least bit. "And furthermore-"

Lucy's eyes widened as she focused on something behind Natsu, a glimmer of something he couldn't identify at first sparking in her eyes for the briefest moment. He frowned at her, until it dawned on him to turn around and follow her gaze.

There it was, sticking out of the ground like a newly grown flower. The red poked out of the ground ever so slightly, teasing the two of them.

Natsu looked back at Lucy, who met his gaze with her horrified one.

He smirked mischievously, and he took off running, laughing like a crazy person.

"No!" he heard Lucy exclaim, her breath heavy as she stumbled to her feet, slipping a few times before she dashed after Natsu, head outstretched.

The sky turned darker, signaling that the sun was ready to set.

Natsu cursed as he slipped once more, twisting his leg slightly. This sent him down back into the mud and sand. His scarf was heavy and wet against his neck, sticking onto his lips.

His ears picked up Lucy's footsteps, and a competitive anger rose in his body.

The orange of the sky began to fade to black.

Enough was enough.

His eyes blazed with determination, and just seconds before the sunset was swallowed up by the dark of night, he launched himself up from the ground and wrapped his arms around Lucy's waist, making her emit a startled shriek. They landed roughly in the mud, Natsu rolling on top if her and grabbing her wrists, pinning her tightly to the ground.

She stared up at him with her widened brown eyes, her chest rising and falling in perfect sync with his own. His drenched scarf fell halfway onto her chest, her ponytail sprawled out below him. He looked down at her, studying her face while he caught his breath, grinning from ear to ear at his late-coming victory. His breath made her baby hairs shake, and her own tickled the tip of his nose, which sent exciting chills down his cold back.

"I." he breathed out "win." he said with a final breath.

Lucy continued to stare up at him, saying nothing.

Natsu grinned cockily down at his partner as she sank further down into the wet earth. "Too shocked to speak? I get it. But I did warn you that I'd win didn't I?"

Then, she began to giggle softly, throwing Natsu off guard completely. Her eyes closed, a happy blush dusting her cheeks.

Natsu frowned down at her. Had losing made her lose it? Had the mud gotten to her brain or something?

"What are you-GAH!" he began to ask her, until he let out a surprised yelp.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, sending confused shock directly to his beating heart.

Her familiar brown eyes were gone, and in their place were a pair of beady black ones with stark white pupils. Her lips curled upwards into a startling smile.

"Piri Piri!"

Natsu's eyes widened in shock, his mouth hanging open as the girl beneath him flashed him one last smile before he was surrounded in a puff of smoke, his hands sinking back into the earth where he once held her wrists.

The smoke faded, and Gemini blinked up at Natsu innocently.

"Y-You…" he started to say, stammering off into silence.

"Good job, Gemini." he heard a familiar voice praise the spirit. Her feet sloshed in the earth near him, and he felt her standing above him. "You're free to go."

"Piri Piri!" Gemini chanted once more before vanishing in a glittery veil. Natsu continued to stare down at the earth for a few more seconds before he turned his head to look up at the real Lucy, who was flashing him a victorious smile.

o-o-o

Lucy was concerned that she had thrown Natsu into a bad state of shock, watching as he glanced up at her, down at the ground, then back up at her. The charade continued for a couple of minutes before he finally spoke. She had to choke down several fits of laughter.

"When did you…" he asked her, pointing down at the ground to gesture to the Lucy imposter who he had pinned down just seconds ago. His brow furrowed in confusion, looking up at Lucy for the answer that wouldn't come. She just stared at him, inspecting his face until she saw that it finally dawned on him.

"The steam." he said aloud, clarification ringing through his voice.

Lucy nodded. "Have to admit that without you drying up the river, you probably would've won." she told him, looking down at the red flag in her hands. "It's a handy technique really, it's helped me so much in the past year."

Natsu remained on the ground, which unsettled Lucy a little. Was he really that discouraged that he didn't tag her on time? If anything, neither of them had achieved their goal really. She hadn't even gotten close to plating a kiss on his cheek, she felt like a lovestruck pre-schooler chasing after a boy who believed that every female on the planet had cooties. She frowned down at his back, reaching out to lay her palm on him to offer comfort.

"We should probably-"

Natsu suddenly lunged himself at her, grabbing her waist like he'd done to Gemini, and pulling her down onto the ground, Lucy squeaking in surprise. She felt the mud around her cushion the blow of her landing, the stuff tangling up in her hair. Her back became ten degrees cooler as the sand and mud pressed against her back. She even felt some splashes of the stuff against her cheeks and thighs.

The boy above her had a different aura than the one she had tried to comfort just seconds ago. This Natsu was smiling down at her brightly, laughing with amusement. She'd never been more confused in her life.

"What are you-"

"That was amazing!" he exclaimed excitedly as she looked up at him in shock. "I mean, wow! I never even realized what was going on! Using your spirits to fling you up in the air, and even using those fancy Star Dress things of yours all by yourself!"

A faint blush began to invade her cheeks, cancelling out the cold mud against her skin. The stars had began to come out now, and they twinkled around Natsu's head in a cosmic dance. She watched the stars and her partner with awe, her heart beating to an unfamiliar tred. His features were lit so brightly, his exciting words almost blending into the beauty of the night sky as she just let him hover over her body, being okay with not being able to move for the moment.

Something shifted in Natsu's face, and while she couldn't quite put her finger on it, she realized in that moment that she didn't want to look away.

"You...really are amazing, Lucy."

He said it as if it were the most simple thing in the world.

Lucy's heart pounded in her chest as the words repeated in her head, the sounds turning into ink-blotted text that swam tauntingly before her eyes, text she'd written herself from her novel.

_You're amazing_

Breaking the silence between the two of them, Lucy dug her fingers into the mud and swiftly swatched it all upon Natsu's cheek. She smirked as he glared down at her, bits and pieces of the mud dripping onto Lucy's chest.

"This look becomes you."

"Shut up."

o-o-o

Happy sat perched on Natsu's muddy shoulder as he and Lucy made their trek back to the guild. Natsu absentmindedly scratched the exceed in between his ears, the poor thing still wet from Lucy's water attack. There weren't any hard feelings between the two of them of course, after Lucy promptly told Happy that she'd make him a fish dinner the moment she saw him.

Everyone had slowly made their way back to the guild once the sun had set for good. However, Natsu could easily say that Lucy and himself looked the most messed up out of everyone else. Sure, there was mussed up hair with leaves caught in it, and sweat gleaming on skin, but when the two of them approached everyone else, the stares that they'd received made Natsu feel as though he were naked. Lucy huffed beside him, running her fingers through her ponytail to loosen the dried up mud.

Then again, he might've reconsidered him and Lucy's appearance after catching a glimpse of Levy and Gajeel coming into view. He saw their matted up hair and sweaty faces, which he paid no mind to until he noticed that Gajeel's belt was wrapped around his waist inside out, his stomach peeking out from his wrinkled up shirt. Levy hadn't looked much better, with her headband almost falling off of her head and her shirt also rolled up, Natsu slowly began to piece the picture together.

His nose caught a strange scent, and he only had to glance over towards Wendy to figure out the source of the scent. Her eyes were wide and her face was pale, looking absolutely flustered as her stare fell down to the ground.

Natsu grinned. He'd have to confirm something with Gajeel later on.

Natsu and Lucy approached Gray and Juvia, who looked them up and down slowly. Gray raised his eyebrows at Natsu, while Juvia silently giggled to herself.

"Do I wanna know?" Gray asked, lifting up a styrofoam cup to his lips to gulp down the sloshing water inside of it, glistening with ice cubes that he undoubtedly created himself.

Natsu smirked, wrapping his arm around Lucy and pulling her into his side embrace, making her emit a surprised yelp. "We know how to rough it up in a competition!" he exclaimed. He glanced at the wet tips of Gray's hair. "And what, you two just got your hair a little wet and did some slip and slide?"

Juvia immediately looked off to the side, her face glowing bright red. Gray coughed on his water, hacking up the liquid as Natsu and Lucy looked at each other with confused looks on their faces.

"What's gotten you two so-" Natsu began before Juvia lunged forward and grabbed Lucy's arm, prying her free from Natsu's hold.

"Wh-Juvia?" Lucy asked in surprise before the water mage tugged her off to the right.

"C-Come with me Lucy-san!" Juvia exclaimed awkwardly as the girls left Natsu and Gray by themselves, watching them run over to Lisanna and Erza. The girls gathered in a tight circle, their faces hidden from any nosy eavesdroppers. Faint chatter erupted from the small crowd, but Natsu honestly wasn't the least bit interested in what they had to say, for the most part anyway.

Girls were too weird.

"Alright, kids!" a booming voice rang out over everyone, who immediately ceased their conversations to turn towards the voice with excitement in their eyes, while some members looked sullen, knowing all too well that their defeat was to be announced.

Everyone made space for Makarov to walk, pooling around the guild master and making him the center of attention. "As usual, these games always bring dear joy to my heart. Nothing beats watching everyone do their absolute best to win!" He took a pregnant pause, allowing everyone to absorb his words before he grinned from ear to ear. "That, and gloating rights."

Collective laughter and eyerolls spread among the guild members, signaling the desire for their master to get down to business, to which he didn't disappoint.

"Now, I want both teams to line up single file, girls and boys."

The circle around Makarov dispersed, teammates joining up with teammates shoulder to shoulder. The effort only took about a minute or so, and then the girls were facing the boys, all of them in a neat and parallel line.

Mira began to giggle to herself, and leaned over to whisper something in Erza's ear. Contrary to last time, Natsu tuned in his ears to catch what she had said to Erza, who had smirked and nodded her head after listening to Mira's words.

_"We already know that our team won. Why drag it out and give the boys some false hope, huh?"_

Natsu heard Gajeel grunt in annoyance beside him, Natsu realizing that he wasn't the only one snooping on the girls' conversation.

Makarov cleared his throat. "Now then," he began, looking to his right towards the female team. "I would like all the female members who have been tagged before sundown to please get out of line and stand off to the side."

Natsu and the guys watched as Kinana, Laki, Mira, Wendy, Evergreen, Bisca, and Cana all left their places in line to obey Makarov's order. The girls left in line moved closer together to fill the gaps made by their teammates.

"And likewise gentlemen." Makarov nodded to the men. "If you've been kissed by one of the girls before sunset, please leave the line and join this group over here."

Now it was the girls' turn to watch the line of guys shrink. Jet, Droy, Romeo, Bixslow, Freed, Elfman, and even Gajeel left the line. Gajeel had a visible storm cloud over his head, slightly sulking as he joined the group off to the side.

Natsu immediately pointed at the Iron Dragon Slayer and burst out in mocking laughter. "This is too good!" he exclaimed, laughing even harder "Way to go Levy!"

"Shut it!" Gajeel yelled back at Natsu, steam rising out of his head as he muttered something under his breath, which of course Natsu was able to pick up on.

 _"Still worth it."_ he'd said, and quickly took a glance at Levy before adjusting his belt slightly. Natsu followed his gaze to find that Levy's face began to glow bright red as she grabbed fistfulls of her shirt.

"Levy-chan?" Lucy had whispered to her friend, who began to awkwardly laugh it off and told her it was nothing.

Natsu looked back at Gajeel, a mischievous gleam in his eye.

Alright Gajeel, now I definitely see what's going on.

"Now everyone!' Makarov exclaimed, looking left and right at the members who still stood in the untouched line. "Congratulate yourselves on a job well done! You all were able to shine today, living up to the Fairy Tail name!"

On the girl's side stood Lucy, Levy, Juvia, Erza, Lisanna, and Charle. They all met eyes with the boys across from them. Natsu, Gray, Laxus, Alzack, Happy, Loke, and Lily all equally stared back at them.

"If only I were able to tag Charle!" Happy said aloud. "Or even better, that she would have kissed me to get me out of the game!"

Charle rolled her eyes. "Seems it wasn't meant to be, Tom Cat."

Gray smirked. "Nothing I didn't expect from the girls."

"Absolutely." Natsu agreed, crossing his arms. "Even though we totally dominated over them today."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "As if."

Erza nodded, agreeing with the blonde. "Try the other way around boys."

Makarov held his hand up for silence to ensue once more.

"Now for the results!" he announced as his eyes landed on each of the winning members on both teams standing before him before he continued. "If I understand correctly, the correct flag has not yet been confiscated, at least to my knowledge." he turned to the boys. "Can I assume that this fact is correct."

Natsu swallowed dry air as he and his teammates exchanged questionable glances, each of them looking hopelessly at the flags still tucked into the winner's hips. The proud looks on the girls' faces didn't help their case either.

"...No." Loke was the one to speak first. "At least, I haven't captured it." he looked at his teammates with a hopeless grin. "I think we've screwed up in that department."

"Way to rub salt in the wound." Gray muttered under his breath.

"I see." Makarov replied. He glanced over all the faces of the men for a few seconds before sighing to himself. "I tell you kids all the time that chasing after a woman who doesn't wish to be chased is frowned upon, and yet the one time it's acceptable, you don't pull through."

A collective amount of groans spread throughout the crowd.

Makarov waited for everyone to silence themselves before he spoke once more. "Tell you what," he began, taking a quick glance at the girls, who then began to frown to each other. "I'll make you all a deal."

The chatter began once more, softly this time, waiting for Makarov to say his peace.

He sighed as he extended his arm towards the girls. "Well, since these girls are the only ones who haven't gotten tagged, it's obvious that the flag is with one of them. If you boys can correctly pick who has the real flag, then I'll make sure all of us get a nice trip to the spa!"

"What?!" everyone exclaimed, some more jubilent than others.

Makarov shrugged. "Eh, I'm feeling generous."

The winning team of men began to laugh with joy, Natsu's excitement rising from his core as he saw the sour faces that the girls put on, rolling their eyes at each other and taking swift glances towards the boys while whispering in each other's ears. The horrified look on Lucy's face amused Natsu to the highest degree. "Oh, it's over now!" he exclaimed, high fiving his teammates. "We've got this down!"

The girls all looked into the eyes of the boys before them, their arms crossed defiantly.

It was Erza who spoke next.

"Let them try." she said, glancing at her girls with a confident smile on her face. She flipped her scarlet hair over her shoulders and glanced over at the boys with a condescending smile. "They still won't win."

"Oh?" Laxus sneered. "Wanna bet?"

"Absolutely!" Mira exclaimed from the sidelines. She flashed a thumbs up. "There's no way that they can win!"

Natsu and the others were too caught up in their glee to listen to anything the girls were saying to bring them down. This was it, this was their chance to win once and for all.

"You only get one chance." Makarov informed them. "So choose wisely. It has to be a unanimous decision from the whole team, so all of you over there can join your team to decide on your choice."

The boy's team all gathered together before their options, muttering to each other in a low volume as to not let the girls hear their conversation.

"Well?" Loke asked the guys around him, glancing over to their competition. "Who are we going with?"

"It's not Juvia." Gray informed them. "She showed me her flag when our sparring was over and done with."

"Not Levy either." Gajeel said, nodding his head confidently. "Her flag's blank. Didn't see our crest on it when she tied it o-"

He cut himself off as everyone immediately began to stare immensely at Gajeel, who began to choke on his words, coughing as if to deflect the words that he was about to spew. His eyes cautiously darted around his teammates, and with a low growl of aggression, he hastily finished his sentence "It ain't her. Moving on."

Natsu grinned. Oh, he was so gonna have some fun with this.

"Okay, well, what about the rest of them?" Loke asked everyone, his strategically calm voice filling their ears. "Do we have any solid proof or any suggestions as to who could have it?" Loke turned to Natsu. "You were the one to find Lucy. Did you happen to see anything?"

Natsu frowned before shaking his head. "The flag got lost in the mud around us for a few minutes, but I wasn't able to tag her before the sun set. Besides, when she went to pick up her flag it was covered in mud. I didn't see the Fairy Tail Crest."

Loke nodded. "Alright. Anyone else?"

Freed and Bixslow frowned to each other. "We saw the flag on Lisanna's hip before we were ambushed."

"Erza...bakery…" Elfman muttered in shame.

"We're going about this wrong." Laxus said gruffly, catching everyone's attention. "We can't fully go off of what our eyes did or didn't see. We gotta get into their heads, think like them a little."

The boys digested Laxus's words for a minute, each of them deep in their own thoughts trying to solve the riddle before them.

"Well? Any ideas?" Laxus asked them, frowning to himself.

"It can't be Charle."

Everyone turned their attention to Happy. He held his paws together calmly, a look of concentration on his face. "My beloved is smart, and she can dodge attacks pretty quickly." He glanced over towards the white feline and his eyes stopped on the red piece of fabric tied at the end of her tail. "But she wouldn't take on that responsibility."

"What makes you say that?" Gray asked him.

Natsu felt something touch his calf, and he looked down to see Happy looking up at him confidently, his paw touching Natsu's skin. "She had someone she wanted to look after." Happy said, obviously referring to Charle and Wendy's partnership.

Natsu smiled and ruffled Happy's fur affectionately. "Damn right, Little Buddy."

"Alright, So Juvia, Levy, and Charle are definitely out." Gray reported. "So that means it's between Lucy, Lisanna, and Erza."

A small bit of laughter filled the air, and everyone turned their heads to the source.

Their choices of females stood calmly before them, their faces looking all too smug as they smiled at the boys haughtily, copying Erza's confidence in that they thought they couldn't outsmart them.

The girls who'd been tagged were giggling softly, covering their mouths to try to muffle their laughter.

Natsu made eye contact with Lucy, and in response, she smiled coyly at him. Her eyes swam with a secretive glitter, and it set Natsu's spine on a competitive edge.

She was mocking him.

o-o-o

Lucy's stomach danced with butterflies as she smiled cockily at Natsu, the glare he shot back at her making her giddy with competition.

The flag was still safe and sound, there was no way they'd figure it out.

She watched as the crowd of boys broke apart, their faces serious and bodies stiff. Lucy took a swift glance to her left and right, her teammates confidently standing their ground like she was.

"Well then, have you made your decision?" Makarov asked, to which the boys nodded slowly.

It was Loke who stepped forward, raised his right arm, and pointed at their choice.

o-o-o

Natsu had an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

Their choice...it was too easy.

She blinked at Loke slowly, frowning in the direction of his finger.

"Oh?" Makarov questioned. "What's the logic behind this choice?"

Loke adjusted his sunglasses cooly. "It seemed like the obvious choice."

The pit refused to leave Natsu's stomach as he was convinced that they'd made the wrong choice. It had seemed so perfect at the moment, even he himself had been so convinced at the time that they'd made the right choice.

And as soon as Loke pointed to one of the girls, Natsu knew that they screwed up.

_"She's the only one that none of us would've gone for."_

_"She's stealthy enough to not give up anything."_

_"She looked too proud eating that piece of cake!"_

_"It's her!"_

_"It has to be!"_

She smiled at them through her scarlet hair, and with another smug grin, she whipped her flag off of her hip and held it out in front of her in all its glory.

It was blank.

The boy's jaws dropped to the ground in astonishment as the girls cheered and laughed, celebrating their victory.

Erza walked over to Loke, who stood there in a stunned silence as she flung her flag playfully over his face.

"Better luck in the next games." she told him sweetly. "We told you that we'd outsmarted you."

"But…" Gray frowned, pointed at Erza and then directed his attention to the gleeful group of girls who still held unopened flags on her hips. "Who has the right flag then?"

The girls laughed once more, making Gajeel burst out in an annoyed grunt, telling them to quit their act.

"Yeah!" Elfman exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips. "Stop laughing and man up!"

Erza's gaze went from Loke to Elfman, who instantly took a step backwards, still shaken up from their encounter in the bakery.

"Man up?"

Everyone turned to a pouting Levy, who rolled her eyes and untied her flag from her hip. She held it up for the guild to see, the blank red square shining in the moonlight.

"Let's get something straight here." she began, her pout turning into a sly smile. "Manning up isn't something that we plan on doing. Ever."

It was then that Juvia stepped forward next to Levy, and held her blank flag up with her right arm.

"You see, why would Juvia and her teammates have to man up when we're fine being the strong women that we are?" She said proudly, as Lucy stepped up next to her. The blonde flashed everyone a confident smile as she untied her flag and held it out in front of her.

"We've managed to take all of you down with just a small piece of fabric." she told them proudly.

Her flag was also blank.

"So why would we man up when our womanly vibes were enough to win?" Lisanna chirped, flashing her blank flag in the air.

Everyone was silent, their eyes wide as they digested the girls' words.

"Th-Then that means…"

All eyes went down to Charle, Happy's eyes bulging out of his head.

But, she turned her nose up at all of them, bringing her tail down towards her front paws to swiftly pull off the red tie on her tail. "Hmph." she closed her eyes, unfolding her flag and holding it out for everyone to see. "As if we'd resort to stooping to become a bunch of tomcats."

The blank surface was blinding against the moonlight.

"What?!" multiple voices exclaimed, pointing at the blank flags that the girls proudly held out before them, frustration filling their voices and bodies.

"Cheaters!" Bixslow exclaimed, putting his hands on his head as if he were about to fall over. "How in the hell is this a fair win when none of ya don't even have the right flag?!"

 _"Cheaters! Cheaters!"_ his babies chanted angrily above his head.

"That's a new low, even for you guys!" Gray exclaimed, crossing his arms. "What gives?!"

"How dare you accuse Juvia of cheating!" The water mage exclaimed. "Juvia and her team would never cheat!"

"Get your facts straight!" Erza retorted. "It's so obvious the sun has gotten to all of your brains!"

Everyone began to yell at everyone, bickering loudly.

Makarov's voice boomed out loudly, telling everyone to cease their yelling at once.

Makarov looked at each of the members a second at a time before sighing to himself, calming down his voice.

Natsu, however, remained oddly silent.

He usually was the first one to jump into a tiff like the one that happened moments ago, however there was still something eating at him. His eyes danced on the flags in each of the girls' hands, trying to figure out what it was exactly that they were missing.

A certain puzzle piece that wouldn't fit...a math equation that was missing a variable….an optical illusion….

"The girls have not committed any cheating of any sort."

He looked over each girl quickly, his eyes scanning their bodies until they landed on something that he'd previously overlooked, something that he didn't even think to consider.

_An illusion…_

Natsu's eyes widened suddenly, drowning the accusations of his teammates and the proud laughter of the girls as he suddenly put his mind to work.

It wasn't that they were missing a piece of the puzzle, but that they were just looking at it from a different angle, paying more attention to certain pieces than others.

Paying no mind to the piece that really mattered.

"How?" Gray asked aloud to which more laughter erupted from the girls as the sound of footsteps filled Natsu's ears.

"It's because you're unable to think like a woman."

Everyone turned towards the person who decided to walk forward into the blank space between both teams. Her blonde ponytail swished gracefully behind her as she smiled to herself softly.

Natsu watched as she tucked in her muddy flag into the side of her shorts.

His stomach sank to his feet as he watched her hands slowly move from her hip and raise themselves up to her ponytail, grabbing onto her blonde locks as if to tighten the red tie that held her hair together.

This sent Natsu back in time to seeing Lucy for the first time, realizing that he had in fact noticed a difference in her appearance. That outfit of hers was more green and yellow based, even giving her green ribbons for her hair.

Only he didn't see green ribbons holding up her hair...

She made eye contact with Natsu once more, and when his eyes widened in understanding, she flashed him a cocky smile.

"It's time that you all…"

Her hands grabbed onto the red tie in her hair and she swiftly undid the knot, setting her hair free to fall and cascade over her shoulders in a blonde waterfall. The wind picked up as she did so, making her hair sweep over her brown eyes. Her intoxicating scent filled Natsu's senses and she slowly unrolled her red hair tie, releasing it from its roll and holding it up for everyone to see.

The Fairy Tail Guild Crest shone brightly in the moonlight, every male member into a stunned stupor.

And with relish, she finished her sentence.

"...opened your eyes."

Nobody spoke.

That is, until Gajeel cracked.

"Are you FUCKIN' KIDDIN' ME?!"


End file.
